The offshore 'hook up' agreement: a lousy deal

Submitted by Janine on 3 April, 1991 - 9:52

In last week's SO we reported that the national union officials for the offshore oil and gas industry have signed a new 'hook up' agreement with the bosses. This article, from the offshore workers' paper Blow Out explains what's wrong with the agreement.

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The Offshore Construction Agreement, known as the 'hook up' agreement, was for years a one-sided deal that protected the oil companies when they were most vulnerable.

They got industrial peace during the construction of the production platforms in the crucial period prior to 'first oil'. In return a small minority of the offshore workforce were temporarily granted recognition for their unions. They got representation by their shop stewards, access to grievance procedures, and a marginally better pay and conditions package.

Once the oil was flowing, this small minority then reverted to the same deal as the rest of the offshore workforce. They got whatever pay and conditions the oil companies allowed their employers to impose on them.

In January last year the unions withdrew from this rotten arrangement under direct pressure from the offshore workers organised around the OILC. This divisive arrangement gone, the way was clear to unite large sections of the workforce behind the struggle for the 'Continental Shelf Agreement'.

The result was unprecedented strikes and occupations that united well over 10,000 workers on over a hundred separate installations. Workers from every sector of our industry, except exploration drilling, participated.

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