ROV Union

[Alphie]

Well I’ve never been in a uni0n, so can’t say if it’s a good thing or not. I could see how *maybe* it would be benificial to salary personnel with arbitration between employer and employee, unfair dismissal etc, but what about freelance personnel ? At the moment times are good and if pay / conditions are rubbish hopefully you can choose something better. Supply and demand. Seems the pay is still going up, no uni0ns involved to the best of my knowledge. What happens if things go downhill ? The salary guy might get the uni0n to negotiate a good severence pay if there’s not enough work to go around. What can they do for the freelancers who once finish their trip are basically unemployed anyway. How much reach do they have, i.e. it use to be that the mainland Chinese used to get less than a tenth of the average worldwide rate, apparently passports and visa’s for working outside China were *difficult*, and I was told by one of them "they didn’t make a fuss because there were a million other Chinese guys waiting to take their jobs". I don’t know if things have improved since then but would the RMT be able to do anything internationally ?. Seems to be a lot of "join the RMT for better pay and conditions" but no information as to how they will achieve this on an international level or any other level for that matter. Join now and ask questions afterwards just doesn’t work for me, as such I remain to be convinced.

[J Deans]

Uni0n? balls. What are you going to do to get a payrise, all go on strike? Strikes are the only thing Uni0ns have to force companies to do anything.

and you will never get ROV guys to agree on anything.

Sausage, loads of years working offshore, never worked with divers. They are a dying breed – literally! No divers down at 1500m. Divers acknowledge our work? balls again!

The only reason the RMT were listened to was because of the strike. If you aint prepared to strike, forget it, a waste of however many quid a month it is to join.

[Sausage]

Uni0n? balls. What are you going to do to get a payrise, all go on strike? Strikes are the only thing Uni0ns have to force companies to do anything.

and you will never get ROV guys to agree on anything.

Sausage, loads of years working offshore, never worked with divers. They are a dying breed – literally! No divers down at 1500m. Divers acknowledge our work? balls again!

The only reason the RMT were listened to was because of the strike. If you aint prepared to strike, forget it, a waste of however many quid a month it is to join.

If strikes are the way to go, yes I would do it, at least I would get some time at home! You are correct in saying that you will never get ROV guys to agree on anything, why is that do you think?
If you have been working for so many years offshore, how come you have never worked with divers? Probably by the sound of things because you are so far up your own arse, that they would never let you fly an ROV anywhere near them, as your reputation obviously preceeds you! I have been working with them for the past 5 years and the first question they ask when getting out the bell is whether the ROV is in the water or not, as they like us being there to assist with various things and also as another pair of eyes for their safety. Long ago in the dark ages, they didnt like us as we were a threat, but when will you see ROV’s completely take over from the Human element? …..NEVER!

Best you stay at 1500m out of the way where the only thing you will get tangled in is your own tether!!!!!

[Andy Shiers]

Wow 😮
Hard stuff 😀

[Theblackfingernail]

Here’s an idea, Lets play Hide the Sausage 😳

Kiss me Hardy, Not in frint of the men!! 😕

The Finger

[James McLauchlan]

Here’s an idea, Lets play Hide the Sausage 😳

Kiss me Hardy, Not in frint of the men!! 😕

The Finger

Not quite sure what that had to do with the topic under discussion?

[Scott Beveridge]

Ok Sausage , 😀
Who is it that runs the RMT ?
Whats his name ? Who is he ?
What years of experience has he or his mob got in ROV’s
Is this on hands ? or Management time ? Which company did he work for ?
Not enough info on who is running the show .
I’m still fencing , Not good enough 😕

Back to this thread… Hopefully I’m on a snowball roll here..

Lost,

As in quite a few ROV companies, large and small, there are Prezez, Veeps, GM’s, and CEO’s (add other HMFIC acronyms here) that can barely spell ROV much less know what they do. There’s also company lawyers, accountants, and various other sundry flipping over their paperwork reading, digesting, assessing (in their own little part of the paperwork world), if this or that should be approved or disapproved. They all have their part (even though they seem to be dipping into our pay… more to come… (a circle to complete)) in our industry. What we don’t possess in the ROV industry are folks that can haggle and arbitrate a decent contract that can look after ALL the ROV crews conditions PRIOR to the final signature / mobilization.

There’s been threads about the dead wood to be weeded out. I agree fully, but as lost said above, let’s assess the assessors first. My definition of assessors also includes those folks in DIRECT management with ROV crews.

Another thread about pay scales… this one could go on for ages… Basing these scales could be based on client requirements (in which IMCA and any other standardizing body should be more involved). Eg: years in service, types of vehicles familiar with, what tasks the person (s) have successfully completed, and so on.

In short (and sorry, I have kind of abbreviated quite a bit), there’s no reason why we, the ROV dudes / dudesses, can’t "hire" our own management team to overlook any oversights stemming from ROV operators. They would only need a basic, theoretical knowledge of ROV safety, operations, and contracts. Indeed, it would be rocky for a few months and many people in the industry may have second thoughts about a Yuni0n.

Maybe this reply could be the start of a new thread ???? Thoughts / views anyone???

[Andy Shiers]

Sooooooooo , You agree with me then 😀

[James McLauchlan]

This thread is most definitely about Uni0n information/discussions so you would be correct in starting another thread on a different subject.

As this thread appears to have been brought to life again it will be interesting to see if attitudes have changed since last year.

[Scott Beveridge]

Sooooooooo , You agree with me then 😀

On some counts dude, yes I do. But I do (strongly) believe it’s time to get off our asses and congeal a bit here and to form some kind of cohesive plan to hire some arbitrators. All of course made possible by a community pot, hat pass, or Yuni0n dues.

[Andy Shiers]

So all we need , are some intelligent experienced ROV personnel who know the industry that are willing to take on the job full time that will not rip us off on joining fees and knows abit about the European and world law
It’s a tall order there to begin with 😕

[Scott Beveridge]

Yep, but you forgot to add in Intl. Biz laws (dealing w/ O&G) as well!! Yep, some parshed off, slightly bitter, slightly twisted, definitely over-bearing dude ready to leave offshore behind and assist in another way… Any takers??

[James McLauchlan]

I think you are barking up the wrong tree here.

We already have a difference of opinion on which Uni0n people feel they should join. Adding a third option would only confuse the issue.

It’s a huge leap for someone to give up offshore work to start a Uni0n when they know of two more in existence already that will accept ROV members.
I would be well surprised if you get any takers but am always willing to be proved incorrect. Put it this way. Would you stop heading offshore and give up on the life/day rate and take on what kind of income?

Keep it simple…. push for people to join an existing Uni0n in enough numbers and results will come.

I appreciate this is an international site but I would suggest that, as a result of the majority vote in the last poll, people join the RMT.

What I would like to see though is the RMT being more proactive on the ROV front rather than just collect dues and pump out the odd bit of diver news.

[Andy Shiers]

Boyo , You just nailed it again ! 🙂
The RMT should pull it’s finger out of it’s ass and prove it knows what it’s talkng about before I put my hard earned already depleted money from this w#*#er of a government into it. They EXCEPT rov personnel but they are not wholely what I would call concerned about us 😕
‘ Talk the Talk , But not walk the walk ! ‘
Our Industry has grown Dramatically over the last twenty years , That means a lot of subscriptions 😯
As far as the RMT is concerned we are another gravey train to be exploited when their usual funds are depleted.
Does it ring a bell there James ? CSWIP ?

[Mark DuPriest]

I was just informed that the RMT advised the divers not to strike in Nov, 06…that the Divers disregarded their advice and secured a raise in spite of the RMT speaks volumes to me.
Did the Divers vote out the Board of Representatives?

A post previously noted the indifference the uni0n showed via several rep`s to a paying member needing their help….cause for concern.

Not necessarily against uni0ns but would not want to be part of one that does not remember why they are there or who their clients are.

I would like to see a response from the RMT on this.

[Author]

Posts