6 April, 2009
The Joint Offshore Task Force of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), in cooperation with the ICEM, met in London on 25-26 March and deliberated on many issues related to the oil and gas industry, including the recent spate of helicopter crashes in the offshore sector.
Representatives from the UK, Norway, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Russia, and Australia attended, and the work saw a plenary session break into work groups for detailed discussions on drilling, diving, maritime issues, well services, and catering. The central focus in all groups was safety, with ICEM Energy Chairman Lars Myhre of Norway’s Industri-Energi (IE) emphatically stating the situation regarding offshore transport is nearing a crisis.
Myhre said a recent decision by servicing companies to reduce the number of pilots by 30% can only worsen the critical situation in offshore work, increasing both the hours and fatigue of remaining pilots. The ICEM/ITF meetings came following two major helicopter crashes, one killing 17 Canadian oil workers on 12 March, and a helicopter ditch on 18 February in the North Sea, in which 18 workers were miraculously rescued.
(On 1 April, 16 North Sea workers died when a Super Puma L2 helicopter operated by Bond Offshore Helicopters of Aberdeen, Scotland, went down in the North Sea. That has caused other North Sea oil workers, as well as members of ICEM affiliated Brazilian Oil Workers’ Federation, FUP, at Petrobras to boycott the carriers made by the manufacturer Eurocopter.)
The ICEM/ITF Task Force meeting sent condolences to the Canadian union, Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP), while Myhre’s details on flight safety resulted in a unanimous resolution adopted by attendees.
Other business included a report by Australian trade unionist Mick Dolman on organizing cooperation between the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) in offshore work in Asia-Pacific areas; the background and work of both the ICEM and ITF in Iraq; and discussions related to an upcoming ILO meeting.
The ITF’s Offshore Task Force Chairman, Norrie McVicar, called the two-day event “a groundbreaking meeting, which identified the need to examine and work on all aspects, good and bad, of workers’ experiences in the offshore field, from health and safety to wages and conditions.”