If you have a viable Un0n in the north sea – support it

[Jeremy]

I come from a country where I have seen first hand what Uni0n’s can do. Some bad but mostly good when well run and organised. It does need the support of its members though. I am in complete agreement about this industry dying for the likes of us. You have SS7 paying their techs $45 a day and Oceaneering reaming their indians asking them to put down bank guarentees to come and work for them. What is next their first born as well? These are listed companies with directors earning BIG bucks. If this is rot is allowed to set in then we will all be without work in 5 years or having to work for $45/day.

The guys in the office should also not feel to secure because it will affect them too. Their work will get harder in the short term (accidents and down time ect) and in the long term these same guys taking their jobs too or at least mking their prospects of finding work in their own country harder.
If you have a viable Un0n in the north sea you should support it.

[Scott Beveridge]

Zero_viz,

Well said and I agree with the logic. Some of us have the hindsight to see the 5 years ahead and are willing to do something about it. I hope more threads like yours start showing up here and the RMT/OILC sites.

[luckyjim37]

I think we all live/have lived in countries with uni0ns. There was a group of workers called miners who had a Uni0n now there are not so many mines or miners but I am sure the uni0n is still there.

There is a Firefighter uni0n I had several friends in the Army on less than any firefighter do there jobs a while ago. Thinking of that, thanks to that uni0n getting its own way council tax is now higher.

I am sure I am not the only person in the industry who is non pro uni0n for one reason or another. If people like James and Scotbev want us to join and support this then they need to come up with something viable.

Not scare mongering about slave labour and not just we will get you a 15% pay rise.

I personally think that the uni0n concept is a good one everyone together equal as brothers etc however I think that the more vocal members on here are looking for different things to some of the newer and younger members of the industry.

[James McLauchlan]

If people like James and Scotbev want us to join and support this then they need to come up with something viable.

Not scare mongering about slave labour and not just we will get you a 15% pay rise.

luckyjim37
Seeing as you singled me out, by using my name openly in the forum, I’ll respond as if your post was aimed at me….. but will certainly not use your name openly in such a manner.

It’s nice that you had friends in the army.
Therefore I will take it that you have no direct experience.
I do and I was fire fighting… we had a blast and there was certainly no anti fire-fighter/union feeling from within our numbers.

I can’t speak for other people on-board with the OILC, but I am not pro union. I am pro collective bargaining, it just so happens that the OILC comes far closer to meeting those requirements than anything else on offer. I’m not a unionist.

Nobody is scaremongering. Look around. It is starting to happen already. Can’t you see it? You only need to read what is going on with SS7 to see where the trend will head if no attempt is made to counteract it.

I’m getting a bit fed up with coming across people with their heads in the sand, of which their appears to be a couple posting in this Union board. As divers we had the same problem to start with. Loads of what if’s, but maybe’s etc.
Eventually that was sorted. We used to take the weak ones to one side and have a little chat with them.
Talk to a diver next time you meet them and see if you can gauge if they are pro union or not. I can tell you (as an ex diver) divers are not pro union, but they are pro collective bargaining and if it’s the union that makes that happen for them and they get the agreement they want out of it then fair enough, they are in!

I have mentioned cheap labour but have not mentioned a 15% pay rise.
I have considered mentioning a 90% pay cut to bring everyone in line with the Filipino now being employed in the North sea. Hows that for incentive?
In fact I am sure the latter was someone else that used the 15% pay rise expression to start another thread.

What do you mean people like us should come up with a viable reason for you to join? That’s verging on cheek!

People should not look to anyone else to come up with reasons for them to do something positive about the situation that is developing right now. They should do it for their own reasons and not be overly selfish about it. If they can’t think of any reasons then they’d be better off staying at home in the fist place. That attitude does smack of I’m OK with my job so why should I worry about others…. Jack!

Remember…. As I have written before, I have nothing to gain from any of this. I currently run my own ROV related business onshore. I am doing it to help others, just as my wife and I did when we set up this website (in it’s first incarnation) over nine years ago.
So here I am, not benefiting personally from the initiative, and I’m confronted with a suggestion asking people like me to give a reason to join when I have already posted the reasons over and over again.

In other words… Don’t look to people like me (giving my time for nothing) to provide sceptics with ‘something viable‘ so that they may have reasons to join that might suit your personal requirements.

There are plenty of people joining so the reason are very obvious to many already.

[Scott Beveridge]

Luckyjim,

And as for myself, I’m VERY pro-collective bargaining. I was in a union in Aus (I’m an American (norhtern Yankee) btw…) in the early 80’s – the PDAA. I wasn’t pro-union either and I’m still not. I’ve seen what the AFL-CIO and the UAW did to my country. All I’m saying Jim is this, with a little hindsight and common sense dealt out, the industry can and will stomp on it’s "workers" without a GROUP OF US ROVers to say NO, we’re not going to take it anymore. I don’t care what nation or race an ROVer is, if they are a good worker, receive good assessments, and pull their weight, then they should be paid the same. Fair enough, right?

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