What options are out there

[Erin Ferguson]

I guess you could say I’m one of your fence sitters but only because I have never felt the need for one with in this industry.

that is all changing and faster than expected

You haven’t exactly been selling the Unions to me – in fact you make them sounds like a waste of time and money.

Companies have the advantage I just want to even up the odds and not be walked on because of my ignorance.

I also don’t expect the Unions to get away without some form of criticism.

can anyone tell me – is there another option other than the RMT OILC or are all us fence sitters going to flounder because there is no obvious path. 😕

[James McLauchlan]

……can anyone tell me – is there another option other than the RMT OILC or are all us fence sitters going to flounder because there is no obvious path. 😕

Most likely flounder because right now there is probably no obvious path other than self regulation/protection. Not that I can see anyway.

As far as the UK offshore industry is concerned the OILC/RMT as a union is in a very sorry state. The RMT itself is only interested in trains and the OILC branch (for offshore energy workers) of the RMT has no chance of organising anything. They’ve had an opportunity and they proved clearly they want no part of anything that means they have to adapt or help their ROV/Subsea members out.
The union is simply not the way forward. ROV UK has been there and done that

If an ROV association were to be started, for say ROV and other subsea related vocations, it may make some progress by representing it’s members interests (in the same guise as other associations – take the AODC for example) but overall I’m not sure how much impact it might have on helping to regulate our industry, which is fast becoming more and more global by way of labour being hired with companies stretching the letter of local employment laws to the max whilst striving to maximise investor returns.

The UK government doesn’t help much with it’s current offshore open door policy and is lagging behind on shutting the work permit loopholes (compared to other nations) but I suspect that may change as they tighten up further on immigration laws, which seems to be at the forefront of current electoral discussions.

[liddelljohn]

Start an independant ROV Union????

[rovnumpty]

Pirelli

I have worked with some ROV folk who are in Nautilus, the officers union (used to be NUMAST). Spoke to them myself once, many moons ago, but the deary I got on the phone wasn’t too sure if I was eligible to join.

No idea how the others blokes got into it.

They seem a bit more clued up on matters nautical, and definetly more active than the RMT, but they didn’t win themselves any friends a couple of years ago. They were pushing for the seamans tax incentive to only apply to marine types signed onto a ship’s articles.

Personly, I think unions are a waste of time and money in the UK as they have nae teeth legally, and seem to spend more time arguing about the labour manifesto than doing anything decent for their members.

[Erin Ferguson]

Thanks for the replys
Unfortunately the truth its not very inspiring is it

The Only choices are the ones you wouldn’t pick unless you desperately needed to.

not much of a choice

I think i better pull up another fence this could be a long wait 😕

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