Victory on offshore working time
Victory on offshore working time
Unions have hailed a 'fantastic' tribunal ruling giving about 10,000 offshore workers two weeks' paid holidays. The decision, affecting drillers, caterers and subsea workers, follows a long-running battle over offshore workers' rights under the Working Time Regulations. The unions claimed under the regulations they were entitled to four weeks' holidays over and above normal time off. The working time rules were introduced across the European Union as an occupational safety and health measure. The unions took their grievance to an industrial tribunal in Aberdeen in what is thought to be one of the biggest block actions of its kind seen in the UK. The key point of the tribunal ruling was that there should be an allocation of four weeks' paid leave on a pro-rata basis for time spent on and offshore. Graham Tran, regional officer with the union Unite, said: 'The tribunal has ruled that all offshore workers are entitled to paid holidays under the Working Time Directive. This judgment should be viewed as a fantastic victory. The members stated in 2003 that they were entitled to paid leave and the tribunal has given them its full support.' He added: 'I call on all companies to accept this ruling and to meet with the recognised unions and discuss how best to implement it. The significance of this is that never again can a company withhold paid holiday entitlement from their employees.' The workers involved in the tribunal, which began in October 2007, were represented by legal teams for the unions Unite, RMT and OILC.
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