LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Trade unions Unite and GMB saidmembers working offshore in Britain's oil and gas industry hadshown overwhelming support for industrial action over proposedchanges to their terms and conditions in a consultative ballotwhich closed on Friday.
Unite's members covered by the Offshore Contractors'Agreement delivered a 93.5 percent vote in favour of proceedingto a strike ballot, increasing the likelihood of North Seastrike action for the first time in a generation, the unionsaid.
GMB's members also voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of anofficial ballot for strike action over proposals from clientsand contractors to change their conditions of employment, GMBsaid.
The vote came after talks between GMB and Unite and theOffshore Contractors' Association in February and March failedto make progress on rota changes, rates of pay, sick pay andholiday patterns, GMB said.
"The vote quite clearly demonstrates the anger andfrustration of our members employed in the offshore industry,"said Dave Hulse, GMB National Officer. "Members are prepared tostrongly oppose the changes from clients and contractors."
It was not immediately clear how many workers any eventualstrike action would involve. The unions now face the task ofputting together an electoral register that is robust enough towithstand any potential legal challenges, a process which couldtake some time, a spokesman for GMB said.
Some operators want to move to a three weeks on, three weeksoff shift pattern, as opposed to the more traditional two weekson, two or three weeks off.
Companies are also cutting headcount in their North Seaoperations to trim costs, with hundreds of job losses announcedat Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Talisman Sinopec, Chevron,ConocoPhillips and Taqa since oil prices plunged in 2014.
Unite Scottish Secretary Pat Rafferty said the "massivesupport" for industrial action should come as no surprise tooffshore employers. "The industry agenda is clear in that itwants to impose a reduced number of employees to work longer andfor much less -- it's a 'race to the bottom' disease that isunsustainable and unacceptable." (Reporting by Claire Milhench; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
