A looming strike by North Sea oil workers could "severely disrupt" UK fuel supplies, the Unite union has warned. The union stated that staff were left with no choice but to take industrial action after pay talks with Texas oil firm Apache broke down.
Unite said Apache workers "emphatically" backed strike action, citing an unacceptable pay offer that many employees consider a real-terms pay cut. The union also claimed Apache set deadlines for reaching a back pay agreement and indicated payments could be withheld, potentially leaving workers thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Apache, however, stated it had "engaged constructively throughout the pay discussions" and offered a 4% pay increase to staff, whose earnings it says are already among the highest in the UK. The company also reported having contingency plans to maintain safe operations and does not expect any strike action to affect other producers operating through the Forties pipeline system.
Strike action could begin later this month and involve more than 160 Apache offshore workers, including electrical experts and production technicians. Any action would affect the Forties and Beryl oilfields and could lead to the critical North Sea platform, Charlie, being brought to a standstill. This could ultimately result in the entire Forties pipeline system, which handles almost a third of the UK’s oil and gas, "going down," according to Unite.