Expert urges North Sea firms to 'take the lead in communications' to minimise disruption from potential strike action

Katie Williams of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, was commenting ahead of a meeting scheduled between representatives of the GMB and Unite trade unions and members of the Offshore Contractors Association, to try to resolve a dispute over proposals to change offshore rotas and other terms.

"The meeting could be the last chance saloon if strike action is to be avoided," Williams said. "The earlier consultative ballot where the unions wrote to all members asking, if push comes to shove would they participate in industrial action, delivered an overwhelming majority."

"Operators and their contractors who have prepared in advance, have a robust contingency plan in place, are willing to engage with staff and be on the front foot in communicating their message to influencers, will be best placed to prevent or at least minimise disruption to oil and gas production at a time when the North Sea can least afford a break in output," she said.

The unions are disputing proposed changes to offshore rotas, pay rates, sick pay and holiday pay, conditions in relation to which are covered by the Offshore Contractors Association Agreement. Lengthy talks on the proposed changes have now led to a stalemate, according to the unions. If the unions decide to go ahead and ballot their members and the ballot returns a positive vote, strike action could take place at a time when the historically low price of crude oil is already putting pressure on companies and has resulted in thousands of redundancies.

Williams said that due to the nature of offshore work, it was unlikely that employees would "walk out and not return until the dispute is resolved" in the way other workers might. Unions were more likely to opt for "short periods of disruption", such as a 24 hour stoppage, and employees would not be expected to miss scheduled flights to offshore platforms, she said.

Although most operators would be likely to have contingency plans in place, it would be important for them to identify which areas of the workforce could affect production if a strike was to go ahead, she said.

"For the operators and contractors, their concern will centre around which employees are taking part and it's those with key skills, or health and safety responsibilities, which can bring production to a halt on a platform or rig," she said. "For example, if crane operators are part of the industrial action, pretty much everything stops. The same goes for people with emergency response duties, as operations would become unsafe."

"Once key people have been identified direct dialogue should take place with those individuals to persuade them not to take strike action. Employers must make a business case which strongly demonstrates why they are seeking to introduce the proposed changes to working conditions. If they can make a clear case for what they are trying to achieve, it may convince staff to make their own decisions, rather than following the dictate of a union which may only represent a fraction of the workforce," she said.

Williams said that employers that "took the lead in communications" could potentially influence how many people ended up taking part in industrial action. This should include a strong communication plan for use on the platforms themselves, but the diverse nature of the offshore workforce could also allow employers to get innovative, she said.

"By its nature, the North Sea workforce work in remote locations and disperse far and wide once they go off-platform and on field break," she said. "Interestingly, social media is used informally but widely by this group and there are various Facebook pages, websites, chat rooms and other social media channels frequented by offshore workers. Conversely, there is not a great employer presence on social media and companies generally are wary of social media because they fear they can't control it."

"This may be a missed opportunity and a well thought out campaign via Twitter or Facebook would reach many more people than the traditional ways of communicating their message by company email systems or letters to home addresses," she said.