26 February 2025
RMT Press Office:
RMT has welcomed the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) latest report on decarbonisation, calling for clear guarantees on jobs, pay, and conditions for workers in offshore energy and transport.
General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “We welcome this independent report as decarbonisation is essential, but workers cannot be left behind especially in offshore oil and gas.
"There must also be a greater emphasis on investment to encourage a transition towards public transport, rail freight, and coastal shipping.
“Workers need a guarantee that in the new de-carbonised economy the UK maintains an industrial base that can build that economy supporting jobs and incomes, instead of abandoning working-class communities to the international market.
“Too often, transitions like this are used as an excuse to slash and export jobs, cut pay, and replace skilled, unionised workers with casualised labour on worse conditions.
“We will not accept a race to the bottom in the name of climate action.
“A genuine just transition must mean protecting wages, skills, and collective bargaining rights across the supply chain.”
Over 2,000 redundancies have hit offshore oil and gas in the past year, with the livelihoods of 1,800 catering jobs under the North Sea Confederation of Offshore Trade Association (COTA) agreement at particular risk.
Seafarers, divers, and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) technicians must be protected through funded skills passporting and stronger employment rights.
RMT has welcomed the Labour government’s offshore skills passport, but the appointment of a GB Energy boss from offshore wind, a sector where collective bargaining is resisted, raises concerns about the application of the Make Work Pay reforms across the offshore energy sector.
Only 11.7% of UK seafarer jobs are held by UK-resident workers, a result of P&O-style employment practices and widespread Flags of Convenience.
In offshore wind, low pay and exploitative shift patterns are common, with the minimum wage not applying beyond 12 miles from the shoreline.
RMT is demanding an enforceable transition plan that guarantees secure jobs, fair wages, and full collective bargaining rights across transport and energy sectors.
END
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