Oil and gas workers are being forced to take significant pay cuts to work in renewables, one of the UK’s biggest trade unions has told MPs. [some emphasis, links added]
The claims by the GMB union, which represents thousands of oil and gas workers, cast doubt on Ed Miliband’s claims of a “fair energy transition” for employees.
It says the renewables sector pays wages up to 30pc lower than the oil and gas industry, employs far fewer workers and operates a “hire and fire” culture that is destroying the UK’s energy communities.
“We don’t recognise the energy transition,” Claire Greer, a GMB senior organiser, told the Commons energy select committee on Wednesday.
The warning comes on the eve of the Aberdeen South by-election, where the oil and gas industry is a key issue for voters.
Ms Greer told MPs:
“Our members don’t see an energy transition that involves them or that includes them – particularly for members who work offshore within the North Sea.
“What they do see is that jobs are falling off a cliff edge, that there is no transition, there are no other jobs for them to go to, and there is certainly no uptick in positions in renewables.”
Ms Greer was speaking as one of the witnesses in the energy security and net zero select committee’s inquiry into the future of the oil and gas industry.
It followed the flight of offshore operators from UK waters triggered by the windfall levy, which took overall taxes on oil and gas profits to 78pc, alongside Mr Miliband’s decision to ban new drilling.
Those decisions have led to job losses in the oil and gas sector surging to 1,000 a month.
Ms Greer said: “The jobs in renewables are not there. They do not exist for the number of people that are losing their jobs in the North Sea.”
Her evidence directly contradicts Labour pledges that net zero would include a “just energy transition” – meaning jobs lost in oil and gas would be matched by new jobs in the emerging renewables sector, with offshore wind offering the most potential for oil and gas workers.
Ms Greer said the reality was the destruction of oil and gas jobs and nothing to replace them.
“We’re seeing almost a 30pc reduction in what people are earning in the North Sea, between oil and gas and renewables. If we look at terms and conditions, they’re being corroded right across the piece.”
Ms Greer’s comments will be a blow to Mr Miliband because the GMB is one of the most important Labour-supporting unions.
Read rest at The Telegraph
For many, many years the climate change movement has been trying to advance their agenda by saying it creates good paying jobs. This article clearly exposes that lie.