SUPPORT FOR OFFSHORE OIL WORKERS

That this House notes that the Secretary of State has today been handed Lord Cullen's Report on the Piper Alpha disaster and recalls the appalling safety record of the oil companies and contractors on offshore oil installations; notes that these companies, while paying lip service to the need for greater safety, decline to recognise trade unions or to negotiate with them about safety; further notes that some companies have been misusing the OPRIS system to operate an unofficial blacklist of employees who are believed to be active union members; notes that some companies are employing people without the RGIT safety certificate; and calls on the oil companies and their sub-contractors unconditionally to recognise trade unions, cease their abuse of the OPRIS system and to at once begin negotiations with their employees with a view to improving their shameful safety record, or else to recognise that a future Government may make operating licences conditional upon the recognition of trade unions and the implementation of appropriate safety precautions.