TREATMENT OF EXXONMOBIL EMPLOYEES

That this House notes with concern recent changes to the working conditions of employees of ExxonMobil, known in the UK as Esso, based abroad; further notes that employees who work 28 days on and 28 days off have been advised that their vacation entitlement, given to employees as a paid benefit at the year-end is being withdrawn; notes that some employees believe that this, alongside a reduction in the rotation premium invoked at the same time, is the equivalent of a 25 per cent reduction in pay; expresses concern that this change was implemented less than a month after some employees signed new contracts on 27 January 2017; notes that ExxonMobil have been retaining the equivalent of their employees National Insurance contributions which would have been deducted had such employees been working in the UK; notes that the manner in which these have been deducted by the company has caused employees' government pensions to be underfunded; calls on ExxonMobil to engage with its employees quickly with a view to resolving this dispute as soon as possible; notes that when the working time directive was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 23 November 1993, it contained several exceptions, one of which was work at sea meaning that workers in the offshore oil and gas industries were excluded from the right to annual leave; and calls on the Government to take urgent action to address this anomaly.