A proper plan to help offshore workers move into low-carbon industries has been demanded in a report from unions and eco campaigners.
A coalition of 1000 North Sea workers issued a wishlist as the energy sector shifts to net zero, including better working conditions, a jobs guarantee, retraining support and a permanent tax on eye-watering oil and gas profits.
The document, Our Power, calls for investment and reform to ensure oil and gas staff can transition to green jobs.
This includes investment in ports and manufacturing and an offshore training passport for those who want to move to the renewables sector.
They also demand equal pay for migrant workers in the offshore sector and a higher minimum wage for all.
Authors spoke to offshore staff at workshops held in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Newcastle, as well as carrying out a survey of 1000 people in the sector.
Some said foreign workers are paid far less than UK-based colleagues working on the same rigs.
And the group - backed by trade unions and eco groups - urged Scottish Government ministers to honour promises that the transition to clean energy will be “worker-led”.
Their raft of demands also includes greater investment in renewables manufacturing; forcing oil companies to pay for rig decommissioning; creating a sovereign wealth fund for taxed energy profits; and nationalising energy companies.
They’ve also criticised SNP-Green ministers after the Holyrood government vowed to “co-design” its Just Transition Plan with workers - saying the involvement of oil and gas workers in the plan so far has been limited to a single online survey.
Robbie Wyness, who has worked as an offshore test engineer in the north-east for 30 years, said workers needed “to be at the centre of transition planning”.
He told the Record: “I feel really strongly that we need to align our training standards (between oil and gas and renewables).
“It should be a level playing field. We need sustainability of employment and wages. People wouldn’t jump ship if everybody was on a decent contract.”
Leah Sigrist, who worked as a marine technician but left the industry last year to become a lecturer in nautical science, said it was important North Sea workers didn’t end up “penalised”.
She pointed to the example of coal workers left on the scrapheap in the 1980s by Margaret Thatcher’s mine closures.
Ms Sigrist, who now lives in Glasgow, told the Record: “Some people are just going to look at oil and gas workers and say ‘they’re part of the problem’.
“But they’re actually part of the solution. These are skilled workers and they have transferable skills that should be utilised. Let’s not repeat what happened in the 80s.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland campaigns head Mary Church said: “Failure from politicians to properly plan and support the transition to renewables is leaving workers totally adrift on the whims of oil and gas companies, and the planet to burn.
“The Scottish Government must pick up these demands and run with them as part of their just transition plan for the energy sector.”
It’s hoped North Sea workers will be able to switch over to renewable jobs in greater numbers as the transition away from fossil fuels gathers pace.
The Scottish Government is this year planning to launch a new uniform Energy Skills Passport to allow oil and gas workers to transfer to green jobs more smoothly.
A streamlined offshore training passport is a key ask of campaigners.
It comes as offshore workers across the RMT, Unite and GMB are considering industrial action over pay and conditions.
RMT regional organiser Jake Molloy said: “The workforce must be fully engaged, involved, and empowered in the process if we are to achieve a real just transition.
“Politicians must wake up to the fact that we need a new model.”
He added: "The workforce must be fully engaged and empowered in the process if we are to achieve a real just transition.
“The current lack of a real transition plan from politicians and industry is failing the existing workforce, fuelling discontent and disillusionment which is evident with the growing number of disputes and industrial action.
“These demands are the start of an energy plan that will deliver affordable and secure energy, through secure employment across the energy sector.
“We need an industry that protects domiciled and migrant workers, who must be paid as UK workers and not exploited for profit. We need a manufacturing base to support developments and decommissioning.”
STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said: “This report shines a light on the reality for workers in the oil and gas sector whose terms and conditions are being eroded at the same time as bosses make eye-watering profits.
"In stark contrast to industry reports and Government consultations about a just transition, this research starts from the perspectives of workers, enabling them to identify their key demands and only then develop policy proposals.
"It is the workers like those represented in this report who hold the skills, knowledge, and experience to turn talk of an energy transition into reality on the ground."
It comes after a report by the respected PwC Green Jobs Barometer last year warned the drive towards low-carbon energy risked being constrained by a lack of workers.
The study found the UK will need at least 200,000 extra new starts over and above the current energy workforce by 2030 to meet the challenge.
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