Union bosses have threatened crippling strike action by North Sea oil workers unless proposed changes to their pay and conditions are scrapped.
Unite insists contractors are using the slump in oil prices to “railroad through” a raft of alterations to pensions, shifts and sick pay.
Around 2,500 workers, including electricians, plumbers, mechanics and riggers, will be asked if they want to be balloted for industrial action.
Branding the changes “opportunistic”, Unite officer Tommy Campbell said: “Following the failure to agree, we will consult our Offshore Contractors Association (OCA) membership asking them to consider a range of responses, including strike action.
“The downturn in oil price has seen our members’ terms and conditions under attack
like never before and while the threat of severe cuts hangs over them, contractors are offering no safeguards in return.
“What we want is for the OCA to work with us to preserve jobs, skills and sustain offshore safety rather than impose these opportunistic, unsustainable and unworkable changes to livelihoods.”
Mr Campbell went on: “Oil prices will recover but knee-jerk cuts to jobs and standards will only undermine the future prosperity and safety of the industry in the long term.”
The Scottish Conservative energy spokesman, Murdo Fraser, condemned the proposed action.
He insisted: “With the difficulties facing the North Sea energy sector, it is hard to see how strike action by workers will do anything but make matters worse.
“I hope that employers will act responsibly in the current situation, realising that short-term cuts will be harmful in the longer term.
“We all want to see North Sea oil and gas have a future, but industrial disputes will just cause greater uncertainty and deter necessary investment.”
The oil industry has been rocked in recent months as several companies laid off workers.
Last August, Shell UK announced it was to cut 250 onshore jobs from its North Sea operation in Aberdeen.
The news came just a month after Chevron announced plans to shed more than 200 jobs in the city.
Earlier this month it was announced that one of the original North Sea oil fields, Brent, was to begin decommissioning.
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