North Sea offshore workers reject pay offer and vote to strike
Unite members on two Neo Next+ platforms plan a series of 24-hour walkouts
Offshore workers on two North Sea platforms have voted for strike action after rejecting pay offers of less than 3%, setting up a run of 24-hour stoppages.
The dispute involves around 50 Unite members working in control rooms, production and operator roles on Neo Next+ Energy's Elgin Franklin and North Alwyn platforms, who overwhelmingly turned down the offers. The first stoppage begins at 06:00 on 22 July, with further walkouts on 29 July and on 5, 12 and 19 August.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham called the offers from an extremely wealthy energy company unacceptable and pledged the union's full support. Industrial officer Stevie Davies said the company was treating highly skilled offshore workers with contempt and should hand them a greater share of its profits, adding there was still a chance to resolve the dispute before the stoppages if the operator did the right thing.
Neo Next+ Energy is the largest independent oil and gas producer in the North Sea, formed last December from the merger of NEO NEXT and TotalEnergies' UK upstream operations.
