Fresh Fears of Industrial Action Hit Oil Industry As BP Wage Talks Falter

By PETE BEVINGTON and ALISON CAMPSIE

FRESH unrest is being felt in the Scottish oil industry with BP workers failing to secure the deal they want over pay, conditions and pensions.

Annual contract talks have angered workers at the Sullom Voe oil terminal in Shetland and the Kinneil gas separation plant in Grangemouth over issues including wages and shift benefits.

National officers from Unite trade union have been called in to head talks in Shetland, with workers at Kinneil understood to have voted unanimously to hold a ballot on industrial action.

The Forties pipeline, which delivers 700,000 barrels of North Sea oil a day, is located at Kinneil and was closed by the two-day strike at the neighbouring Ineos refinery this week, leading to fuel supply disruptions and a loss to the economy of GBP50m a day.

A spokesman at BP said that negotiations at both sites were over “local issues” and did not centre on a change in pension rights for workers, the issue at the heart of the Ineos strike.

However, it is understood that Shetland workers are angered that their GBP6000 isles allowance, to compensate for a higher cost of living, is not counted towards their pension payments.

“The actual pension changes are a bone of contention, but since we have started to look into this we have realised the pension we can expect after 30 years service is well behind companies like Shell, Esso and Total, and we are looking to address that, ” one Unite member said.

Following government legislation to protect against age discrimination, BP raised the retirement age at which new employees can draw a full pension from 60 to 65, and ended the practice where anyone with 30 years’ service can retire on a full pension at 55.

The union has been trying to resolve its concerns about pensions for the past two years, and has now incorporated them into the annual pay talks which have been ongoing since February. BP is offering 3.8per cent on basic pay, but no increase on the island allowance.

The BP spokesman added that management had not been made aware of any vote on action at Grangemouth.

Originally published by Newsquest Media Group.

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