We publish here a letter from a Socialist Appeal supporter about a recent dispute between engineering company Balfour Beatty and workers in the Unite and GMB unions, which demonstrates the power of workers when they take action en masse and show solidarity with one another.
We publish here a letter from a Socialist Appeal supporter about a recent dispute between engineering company Balfour Beatty and workers in the Unite and GMB unions, which demonstrates the power of workers when they take action en masse and show solidarity with one another.
On Weds 27th November, approximately 30 pipefitters – and Unite members – working for Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) on French company Total’s Shetland Gas Plant (SGP), returned to the workers accommodation camp, after a nine-and-a-half hour shift. One of the workers asked a question at the desk about an issue with his room, only to be told by the receptionist that he didn’t need to worry about that, because she had just recieved an emailed list, from the main contractor Petrofac, saying that all 30 had to pack their bags that night, and that the next morning they would be bussed to the airport and flown off the island. The Balfour 30 had no knowledge of this, either from their employer, BBES, or Petrofac.
The GMB shop steward phoned their manager, who came to the camp and spoke briefly to the 30 and the other BBES pipefitters, welders and riggers that night. There was not much information from him and he couldn’t even answer the question as to whether their employment had been terminated or if they were on standby money. The manager left the meeting; the BBES workers then agreed that nobody should pack their bags and that they would all attend work the next day to sit in at the main canteen, until their questions were answered.
The morning after this happened, with the BBES GMB steward going straight into a meeting with the BBES manager, the Unite and GMB shop stewards for the main contractor Petrofac also went to a meeting with Petrofac’s Industrial Relations Officer (IRO). The 100 or so BBES workers sitting in were also joined by some Petrofac workers. It also then transpired that another 20 BBES pipefitters, who through their work rota happened to be at home, were told not to return to the project, so the 30 had turned into 50. It then emerged that thiswas a “commercial dispute” between BBES and Petrofac, and as always the workers were paying the price.
BBES then gave the 30 workers a letter, after pressure from the unionised workforce, to say that they were on standby with pay, as it had been pointed out to them that Unite and GMB were not aware of any legal HR1 going to them concerning redundancies. The tension was building up on the site, with other workers wanting to support the Balfour 30. Petrofac then agreed with the shop steward demand for a mass site meeting of all the workers under the Shetland Island Agreement. This started at 10.00am, with pipefitters, platers, mech fitters, electricians, riggers, labourers, etc. from Petrofac joining up with scaffolders, labourers & pipefitters from Bilfinger Industrial Services (BIS): approximately 400-500 workers coming together with the BBES workforce, with them all sitting in, in the main canteen.
The main demand from the mass meeting of workers, in addition to the standby pay, was a written assurance from the Petrofac site manager that they would be given priority for re-employment back on the project as there are still thousands of pipes to yet install. This part of the mass meeting ended with all the workers chanting “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!” several times, with the sound going upstairs to the offices above.
This demand was convey by all the shop stewards to site management, who then came back with the first letter. This was duly returned as not being acceptable by the stewards, with hundreds of workers still sitting in. Another letter was produced, and once again it was deemed unacceptable by the stewards to take back to the mass meeting.
It was now the afternoon, when a third letter from the site manager was given to the shop stewards, who agreed to take it to the mass meeting. The written assurances from Petrofac for priority for the now BBES 50 to be taken back on, before any other new pipefiters across the site, were accepted by a vote of all the workers at the mass meeting. Before the mass meeting ended at approximately 3.00pm, all the workers sang two verses of “Solidarity forever, solidarity forever, solidarity forever – ’cause the UNION makes us STRONG”, once again resounding out to the offices above. The workers left the meeting still singing, with a spring in their step, with the management also agreeing to no loss of pay, if the workers returned to work.
The BBES 30 went off the island the next day, unfortunately, but in a lot better position than they were in at 5.00pm on Wednesday at the accommodation camp, due to, I believe, workers coming together in solidarity. BBES have now given Unite and GMB an HR1 for redundancies, but the BBES pipefitters cannot have their jobs terminated until the legal consultation begins with the unions, which should have also been the case anyway under the Shetland Island Agreement. Their jobs cannot be terminated until mid Jan’ 2014, until then they are on 38 hours standby money and the first back on the site when recruitment starts again, as it will shortly will due to this being a massive gas plant project.
Watch this space, as from last week, 5th December, these same workers are starting a legal ballot for industrial action over other major issues affecting workers on the Shetland Gas Plant.
“SOLIDARITY FOREVER – ‘CAUSE THE UNION MAKES US STRONG”
