RMT News December 2006 - Divers net 44.7 per cent pay deal
More than 900 striking North Sea divers and support staff involved in the dispute voted by over 80 per cent voted to accept a 44.7 per cent two-year pay deal, on an 80 per cent turnout.
The union launched strike action on November 1 after offshore personnel rejected a 37 per cent pay offer and not one diving support vessel was operational throughout the stoppage.
Members on vessels as far a field as Singapore, the Canaries and Egypt joined the strike and members walked also out of training courses in Norway.
The final settlement gives an immediate increase of 25 per cent on all rates, with a further five per cent on the new rates next April, and increases in November 2007 and 2008 of RPI plus 1.5 per cent or five per cent, whichever is greater.
The seven employer signatories to the deal will also now pay eight bank holidays, up from four previously, and each has undertaken to agree proper bargaining structures with the union, although pay will continue to be negotiated collectively.
"By any standard this is a tremendous victory for a group of workers who have displayed grit, determination and complete solidarity in their campaign to win a fair pay increase," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said.
Bob Crow pointed out that divers and their support crews do difficult and hazardous work in an industry that makes enormous profits, and the settlement represented a massive stride towards reversing the two decades of pay erosion.
"Nonetheless, there remain issues to be addressed, and the establishment of proper negotiating procedures with the seven companies provides the framework within which that can now be done.
"Our members in the North Sea came out as one, stood together through ten days of solid strike action, and can return to work proud that their unity has won a significant advance," Bob said.
Messages of support flooded into the strike office from diving maritime unions around the world.
Norwegian colleagues in IE offered practical support and attended a mass meeting during the dispute in Aberdeen. Messages also came from as far a field as the Indonesian Seafarers’ Union, the Argentinean divers’ union and from the Maritime Union of Australia.