WORKERS at a US-owned oil and gas giant in Scotland launched all-out strike action today after their union accused bosses of using fire-and-rehire tactics to “lay waste to jobs.”
About 110 staff at Baker Hughes, one of the largest employers in Angus, began a continuous two-week walkout which will last until September 14.
The industrial action, backed by about 87 per cent of workers on a similar turnout in a recent ballot, will then be followed by a series of 48-hour strikes up to November 16, Unite said.
The union accused the mega-rich multinational, which operates two sites in Montrose, of giving employees five minutes’ notice before issuing redundancy notices in June.
Bosses then told workers that they had until early August to sign new contracts, which would see their annual wages slashed by £10,500, or face losing their jobs permanently, it said.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The proposal to cut our members’ pay through fire-and-rehire tactics is a new low for an industry plagued by corporate greed.
“Our members are simply not prepared to accept this and throughout the strike action they will have Unite’s full support.”
The union’s industrial officer George Ramsay said that members are “outraged and they are prepared to take strike action right into the winter to defend their pay.
“It is completely unacceptable that our members could lose up to a third of their income during the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation — we are determined to fight this corporate bully,” he said.
Baker Hughes, which employs about 250 workers to pioneer state-of-the-art manufacturing and engineering processes for the oil and gas industry, was contacted for comment.
Gets better and better… 🙁
The us is a virus.
I absolutely do not blame the workers but yet another thing contributing to the rising cost of oil
Edit: for clarity I’m angry at the oil company for creating this situation
They made pre tax profits of $400m last year
Giving those workers an inflation linked pay
rise, let alone a £10k cut, would barely even dent those profits
This is likely some prick ticking a box to hit a KPI and retain his bonus
That’s pretty standard behaviour for US companies, sadly.
Since we left the EU it’s like every company now regards their workers as fair game for either zero hour contracts, fire and rehire or ending sick pay agreements etc.
P&O was a classic.
WTF is up with these morons, don’t they realise that happy, content workers *are* the company, not some over-paid, bloated executive who hasn’t a clue about real hard work and only looks forwards to their six figure salary.
Muppets.
US owned giant…
Well just shut down the rig and the profits surely gotta stop then.
This has been going on for decades
Good. Everyone should do the same if they feel they are being taken advantage of
Related:
> Anger as ministers block ‘fire and rehire’ bill in Commons
>Opposition and unions say government is siding with bad bosses by scuppering proposed legislation
11 comments
WORKERS at a US-owned oil and gas giant in Scotland launched all-out strike action today after their union accused bosses of using fire-and-rehire tactics to “lay waste to jobs.”
About 110 staff at Baker Hughes, one of the largest employers in Angus, began a continuous two-week walkout which will last until September 14.
The industrial action, backed by about 87 per cent of workers on a similar turnout in a recent ballot, will then be followed by a series of 48-hour strikes up to November 16, Unite said.
The union accused the mega-rich multinational, which operates two sites in Montrose, of giving employees five minutes’ notice before issuing redundancy notices in June.
Bosses then told workers that they had until early August to sign new contracts, which would see their annual wages slashed by £10,500, or face losing their jobs permanently, it said.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The proposal to cut our members’ pay through fire-and-rehire tactics is a new low for an industry plagued by corporate greed.
“Our members are simply not prepared to accept this and throughout the strike action they will have Unite’s full support.”
The union’s industrial officer George Ramsay said that members are “outraged and they are prepared to take strike action right into the winter to defend their pay.
“It is completely unacceptable that our members could lose up to a third of their income during the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation — we are determined to fight this corporate bully,” he said.
Baker Hughes, which employs about 250 workers to pioneer state-of-the-art manufacturing and engineering processes for the oil and gas industry, was contacted for comment.
Gets better and better… 🙁
The us is a virus.
I absolutely do not blame the workers but yet another thing contributing to the rising cost of oil
Edit: for clarity I’m angry at the oil company for creating this situation
They made pre tax profits of $400m last year
Giving those workers an inflation linked pay
rise, let alone a £10k cut, would barely even dent those profits
This is likely some prick ticking a box to hit a KPI and retain his bonus
That’s pretty standard behaviour for US companies, sadly.
Since we left the EU it’s like every company now regards their workers as fair game for either zero hour contracts, fire and rehire or ending sick pay agreements etc.
P&O was a classic.
WTF is up with these morons, don’t they realise that happy, content workers *are* the company, not some over-paid, bloated executive who hasn’t a clue about real hard work and only looks forwards to their six figure salary.
Muppets.
US owned giant…
Well just shut down the rig and the profits surely gotta stop then.
This has been going on for decades
Good. Everyone should do the same if they feel they are being taken advantage of
Related:
> Anger as ministers block ‘fire and rehire’ bill in Commons
>Opposition and unions say government is siding with bad bosses by scuppering proposed legislation
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/law/2021/oct/22/anger-as-ministers-block-fire-and-rehire-bill-in-commons