Interview: Chair, OILC Humberside: winning the ballot in the North Sea
Labour Briefing1990sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
ALAN THORNETT spoke to ERIC McTAGGART (Chair of OILC, Humberside) following the meeting of Unions representing oil workers in the North Sea held on September 6th, which decided to ballot the offshore workforce.
AT: How do you feel about the decision to ballot the workforce?
EM: We are pleased but dubious at the same time. We don't know if they are going to ballot everyone – construction staff represented by OILC and regular staff who are better paid.
In some areas there is little support for the official unions; the workforce has been let down so many times in the past. You have to remember that there is no official union recognition and so it is difficult to build up union membership.
We are also worried that the 1,500 who have been sacked will not get a vote because they are not now employed offshore.
AT: Can the ballot be won for strike action?
EM: Yes, if the right questions are on the ballot paper – and we don't yet know what will be on the paper.
If it stresses the main issues in the dispute – safety on the rigs in the light of Piper Alpha, trades union recognition and the reinstatement of sacked workers – we could win it.
Any offshore worker would have to be mad not to vote for improving safety. But we don't know if this is how it will be posed. It would be a disaster if the ballot was lost.
AT: How will the ballot be conducted?
EM: This is the big problem. There are 28,000 workers and they are changing all the time. Only the employers have the records and they have refused to co-operate.
What has been suggested is an 0800 number which workers can ring to be sent a ballot paper, but it's going to take six weeks to sort out.
AT: I understand that a women's support group has been set up in Hull?
EM: Yes – after an initial meeting has taken place and an appeal has gone out.
There is a lot to be done, particularly for the victimised men. When they were sacked they were dumped on the beach with no way of getting home. It cost OILC thousands of pounds to help them.