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The British trade union Unite announced that over 1,000 of the offshore contractors that it represents would be resuming its 48-hour strike action starting Friday. The strike action is part of the long-running dispute over pay, pensions, and working conditions in the sector.
Unite announced on Wednesday that 1,200 of its offshore contractors would be resuming a two-day strike starting Friday as part of the long-running dispute over pay, jobs, and working conditions in the offshore sector. Oil and gas operators, including Apache, BP, Harbour Energy, Enquest, Ithaca, Repsol, Shell, and TAQA, according to the union.
The planned strike action by the offshore contractors comes at a time when many key sectors have also taken strike action in the past several months over pay, pensions, and working conditions. Hundreds of thousands of workers across the United Kingdom, including teachers, doctors, nurses, and civil servants, are in a dispute with their employers as inflation in the UK remains at a 40-year high of around 10 percent.
Last week, the trade union RMT said that the railway workers it represents have voted to take further strike action in a new ballot as part of the dispute with train operating firms. Thousands of railway workers had already planned to take strike action on May 13 when the RMT rejected a new pay proposal, according to the union the week before, marking an escalation of strikes on the transportation network since the summer.
“This sends a clear message to the employers that the huge anger amongst rail workers is very real and they need to recognize that fact, face reality, and make improved proposals,” said RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch.
The ballot result would give the RMT a mandate of six more months of strike action, but the union did not announce any dates for a new round of strikes. The Rail Delivery Group, which represents the rail companies, expressed disappointment at the result.
British train drivers also separately announced that they would be holding three days of strikes this month and in June.
Photo by Philafrenzy/Wikimedia Commons(CC by 2.0)
