Offshore workers working for Total E&P UK in the North Sea are being balloted by union Unite over taking industrial action due to proposed changes to terms and conditions.

A previous proposal by Unite to reduce the number of 'claw-back' days worked offshore was rejected by Total, who instead proposed moving workers to a three on/three off rota.

Workers had previously given up their days for no extra payments in order to assist Total E&P UK at the height of the downturn. While the price of a barrel of oil fell to around $25 a barrel in early 2016, prices have now risen to $80 a barrel for the first time in four years with global analysts predicting over the coming months the price could hit $100 a barrel

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Unite said the company's three on/three off proposal, which has "infuriated" members, would lead to a further increase in the days worked offshore.

Currently, the three on/three off rota pattern is worked by 56% of the offshore workforce, compared with just 17% in 2007. Unite said a report by Robert Gordon University identified that workers on three-week, equal-time rotas were nearly twice as likely to experience ill health as those on two-on-two-off shifts.

Wullie Wallace, Unite regional industrial officer, said: "The intransigence of Total E&P in the context of our members doing all they could to help the company during the downturn is staggering. Unite members gave up their claw-back days for no extra payment and instead the company’s idea of a reward is to impose extra working days.

"The proposal to enforce three week shift rotas is also completely unacceptable. No one should be expected to work 21 days in a row, working 12 hour shifts, being pushed to the limits of what is safe mentally and physically. Unite members are resolute in opposing these proposals and we have no option but to move towards a ballot for industrial action."

Unite's ballot of workers on the Alwyn, Elgin and Dunbar platforms is set to close on 28 June.

(LM)