THE UNITE union has urged employers agreement to return to the negotiating table after North Sea catering workers voted to take strike action over a long-standing pay dispute.

Union leaders say the refusal of Caterers Offshore Trade Association (COTA) employers to honour the second year of a two-year pay deal worth around 1.3 per cent, resulted in an industrial action ballot which saw 54.2 per cent of members vote for strike action and 62.7 per cent also voting for action short of strike.

The Caterers Offshore Trade Association warned that strike action would put jobs at risk.

The six COTA members collectively employ almost 3,000 staff.

The Herald:

Members of the union staged protests on Wednesday at several firms connected to offshore catering, ahead of the ballot closing.

The union says the next steps will be determined shortly by the union with a dispute certain to affect catering and ancillary services across all installations operating in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

Earlier this month, it emerged hundreds of offshore catering jobs were reportedly at risk cross six firms serving North Sea oil and gas platforms.

COTA which represents the six firms – Aramark, Entier, ESS, FOSS & ESG, Sodexo and Trinity International Services – said it was consulting on around 500 jobs blaming the downturn in the oil and gas sector.

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Unite regional officer John Boland said, “The result shows that the majority of our COTA members are not prepared to sit-back and let employers worth billions revoke their pay agreement – the 1.3 per cent required to settle this dispute is mere drop in the ocean for companies like Sodexho.

“We are not blind to the significant challenges facing our industry, our members have been at the coal-face of the downturn from the start, but it sets a dangerous precedent for employment rights if companies are able to impose change without negotiation and that’s why we are now looking at a strike scenario.

“We are disappointed the employers have chosen not to resolve this matter amicably and the door remains open for discussion, whether it’s face to face or through the auspices of ACAS, if they want to avoid serious disruption to catering and ancillary services across the North Sea but we are rapidly running out of time.”

Peter Bruce, chair of the Caterers Offshore Trade Association, said that only 250 people voted in favour of strike action out of a total workforce of 3000.

“We are very disappointed with the outcome of the Unite ballot," he said.

“RMT’s ballot closes on Tuesday 27 October. We strongly urge all RMT members who are employed by our member companies to make their voices heard. Our message to them is that if you don’t support the industrial action proposed by the unions you need to cast your vote.

"Strike action can only threaten the long term sustainability of our industry and jeopardise jobs. We urge workers to remember that if Unite does call on you to take strike action no one is obliged to participate.

“We have detailed contingency plans in place to deliver at least a basic service to our clients and will do all we can to keep installations open throughout any strike. We will be keeping in close contact with all our clients as the situation progresses.”