By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
Workers in the UK’s offshore oil, gas and renewables sector have called for public ownership of energy companies to ensure that the country’s transition to net zero protects jobs, communities and the environment.
The call comes amid a series of demands to government from a coalition of offshore workers, unions and climate campaigners that aim to shift the industry from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources.
A survey of 1,092 offshore workers for the wide-ranging report, Our Power: Offshore Workers, found that 90% of respondents backed its demands, which also include: government-backed jobs guarantees; an offshore training passport that supports workers to retrain in the renewables sector; a commitment to incentivise investment in ports and factories making products such as wind turbines; and equal pay for migrant workers.
Concerns are growing over the pace of Britain’s transition away from fossil fuels and its ability to create green jobs in manufacturing, production and operations. Data from the consultancy PwC shows the number of jobs being created in the renewable energy industry is growing four times faster than the overall UK employment market. But more than one-third of these roles are based in London and the south-east, particularly in professional and scientific roles.
The report argues that public ownership of energy firms would help to ensure a “just energy transition” offering greater job security and conditions. It paints a picture of long stints at sea and low pay in the face of the cost of living crisis, with British workers paid three times as much as migrant staff.
This joke of a survey was carried out by Friends of the Earth Scotland and an outfit called PLATFORM, who describe themselves:
Needless to say, this was not a proper, professional survey, as would have been carried out by any reputable opinion pollster, but one designed to support a pre-conceived agenda.
And the results are the usual load of Trotskyist drivel, with demands for nationalisation and a share of BP’s profits.
I suspect the vast majority of North Sea oil workers would be much more concerned about the risks to their livelihoods, generated by the very same potty Net Zero policies promoted by Friends of the Earth.
North Sea oil and gas provides well paid work for some 269,000 people, both direct and indirect, with average wages in the sector of around £80,000. FoE would rather like to see these workers redeployed to other jobs in the renewable sector at much lower rates of pay.
Then there is the wider benefit to the UK and Scottish economies, estimated at over £60bn a year.
Maybe the Guardian should commission a proper opinion poll, to ask workers in North Sea oil and gas whether they want to see their jobs destroyed.
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March 8, 2023 at 11:35AM
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