OFFSHORE HYDROCARBON INDUSTRY

WARREN ALLEN
Mobile No: 0419 907 032
Tel: (08) 9221 1686
Fax: (08) 9221 1706

MEMBERS HAVE A WIN ON THE OCEAN LEGEND

The Union has completed negotiations with Total Marine for an agreement to cover the deck and catering crew on the Ocean Legend.

The Ocean Legend is a production facility operated by Oceaneering for Woodside.

The agreement includes wage increases of up to 14.5% for some classifications. It also includes a minimum wage increase of 3% per year plus additional performance increases. This should deliver increases of up to 6% per annum.

The agreement also includes provision for Long Service Leave after 10 years with a pro-rata after 5 years.

The agreement takes rates for Head Cooks to $96,400 General Service Hands to between $91,000 and $93,500 and their super has gone to 10.5%.

The agreement was possible as a result of most of the crew remaining together as a collective. The Union initially filed in the WAIRC for an Enterprise order. This was brought before Senior Commissioner Beech following which the parties began negotiations.

This 3 year agreement will deliver between 20 to 30% over the life of the agreement. The crew ought to be congratulated for sticking together. It has also encouraged others to subsequently join the Union.

As one of the delegates commented:

"Most of us agree that it has been a while, since we have had a win, but would like to extend our appreciation."

The congratulations go to the members who stuck together without them the Union would not have achieved the results.

OFFSHORE MOBILE DRILLING

According to a recent decision from Deputy President McCarthy the Union continues to maintain its perfect record against dismissals from the drilling companies.

Diamond Offshore on the Ocean General while drilling for Woodside in the Timor Sea fell fowl of Woodside in respect to "too many injuries".

Their response was typical in that they chose to blame the crew. As such they sought a scapegoat in their traditional response of "If there are safety problems then sack someone".

In this case, they sacked the dogman for apparently getting fuel from the engine room without permission of the motorman. This resulted in the dismissal of the Union member.

Whilst initially the Commission decided to reinstate the member, Daniel Robertson, this was appealed on the basis that the Rig went to stack some 7 months later. As a result of this Appeal and the Union's Appeal that Diamond Offshore pay compensation the Full Bench decided that Mr. Robertson should be compensated for the period to the time the Rig went to stack. This includes payment for his redundancy for service with Diamond.

It should be noted that while this case proceeded through the Commission for the so called unsafe employee Daniel worked in the North Sea progressing to the level of an offshore crane driver. This above all should prove that there was no safety issue.

And Yes, Diamond Offshore has done it again. The Ocean Epoch whilst in transit to Perth the OIM decided that they would not pay over cycle to employees who were forced to work 5 weeks straight. An employee who sought to challenge the decision even though he was correct and entitled to the payment was run off in Perth when the Rig reached Fremantle.

The employee concerned who at this stage cannot be named due to proceedings in the West Australian Industrial Relations Commission, was run off as he stayed back to seen Chris Cain from the MUA when Chris visited the Rig. He wanted some advice. As part of the AWU and MUA alliance Chris was happy to speak with the member and provide him with advice.

As a result of this Diamond ran the member off. When Chris Cain and Mike Llewellyn attended the induction to speak with employees Diamond insisted the employees leave the room. To their credit all but 3 of the employees remained and confirmed the member's report of what had occurred on the crew change.

The real question is what have Diamond Offshore got to fear from employees exercising their rights to speak with and join the Union. This case is being run on the basis of discrimination against a person seeking advice from the Union.

ENSCO 104 Reports

The practice of an arrogant Rig company is typified by ENSCO who operate the ENSCO 104 on the Bayu Undan field. There have been ongoing problems with this job and the turnover of labour should have raised concerns with Philips Conoco who has commissioned ENSCO to perform the work.

ENSCO decided to change the flights so employees have to catch a flight at 10:30 at night in Perth arriving at the rig at approx 10:00am the next day. As a result they instructed Total Marine to deduct the Travel Payment of 16 hours from the employees. Unfortunately for Total Marine who initially complied and removed the 16-hour payment from their employees, about half the Rigs are members of the AWU and of course the Union took up their case.

While the members are all on Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) it does not prevent the Union from assisting its members.

As a result of our intervention with the Union sending Total Marine a copy of a Magistrate Court's summons for non-compliance with their AWA which we were intending to lodge, Total Marine decided to reinstate the payments. This payment was reinstated for all employees even though the Union only acted for its members.

It does demonstrate that even though you are covered by an AWA the Union can still represent you and you can still act as a group in the tradition of the offshore industry where you all stand together.

ENSCO 102 coming to Bass Straight

The Ensco 102 will be operating in Bass Straight and will not be covered by AWAs. It is an area of strength for the AWU and the Rig will be covered by a collective agreement. We will keep members informed of the Agreement but you can be assured it will be an improvement on Ensco and Total Marine Non-Union AWAs.

RIG SAFETY

A recent incident on the ENSCO 104 appears not to have attracted the attention of either ENSCO or Philips Conoco.

The Union was provided with photos of an Air Tugger that the Tool Pusher directed employees to operate. This was despite the fact that the equipment had been tagged out as "unsafe to operate" by the ENSCO Safety officer. Take a look at the picture attached.

This should prompt a number of questions:

1. What is ENSCO'S real attitude to safety? Nothing if it is supervision
2. What is Philips Conoco's attitude to deliberate breaches of safety and tagging rules? Unknown at press time.
3. What has the regulator done? Nothing
4. What would happen if an employee refused to use the equipment?

The answer to the last question is it is illegal to direct an employee to perform an unsafe act. Any employee so directed should advise the supervisor concerned that they intend to make a complaint to the relevant authority. Should the supervisor then threaten dismissal, the matter should be reported to the Union and then applications made in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and a complaint lodged against the Individual Supervisor and the Company with the Equal Opportunity Commission for victimisation in employment.

Remember the AWU and MUA Alliance is alive and well.

There are also some new faces in the AWU office in Perth for the offshore industry.

Just keep in mind the Union's win record for union members who have sought our help in cases of dismissals.

Companies 0 - Union 9

Most of these members are still working in the industry. Members who believe they are being black banned in the industry should contact the Union for advice on how to proceed against the Companies. The Union has also been successful in gaining employment for members who believed that they were black listed.