UK Unions Claim Victory on Offshore Holiday Ruling

UK unions have welcomed a ruling by a Scottish employment tribunal, granting about 10,000 offshore workers two weeks' paid holidays.

Disgruntled offshore workers including drillers, caterers and subsea workers, who claimed they were entitled to four weeks' holidays over and above normal time off, took their case to the Aberdeen employment tribunal.

The tribunal ruled that all offshore workers are entitled to paid holidays under the working time directive with four weeks' paid leave on a pro-rata basis for time spent on and offshore, rejecting the UK's largest union Unite's claim that employees working on a two-on two-off rota are entitled to a further four weeks' holiday taken from their working time.

The Amicus arm of Unite called the ruling to secure 14 days' leave on a pro-rata basis a 'fantastic victory' while representative organisation for the offshore industry Oil and Gas UK, welcomed the decision saying "the hearing brings welcome clarity to a complex area of law."

"I call on all companies to accept this ruling and to meet with the recognised unions and discuss how best to implement it. "The significance of this is that never again can a company withhold paid holiday entitlement from their employees," says, regional officer with the Amicus arm of Unite, Graham Tran.

The Tribunal's judgement also concluded that time spent travelling to and from the installations is not working time.

A deal between Amicus, the GMB union and the Offshore Contractors Association last August guaranteed four weeks' paid leave for about 10,000 offshore workers, excluding drillers and caterers.

By Ozge Ibrahim