Government Commits To Offshore Workers

01-09-2006

There are currently around 20,000 offshore workers in the UK that, under previous working time legislation, were not entitled to the statutory four weeks paid annual leave.

This loophole in the Working Time Directive was exploited by rich oil companies who argued that offshore workers actually worked beyond the UK's geographical boundaries. This is despite the fact that offshore workers elsewhere in Europe are covered by the Working Time Directive.

Amicus has been engaged in a long-running campaign on behalf of the UK's offshore workers to have the Working Time Directive applied to them. Following this action, the Government has now pledged to change the regulations so that UK offshore workers are no longer exempt, and changes to the legislation could come in to force as early as October 2006.

Graham Tran, an Amicus Regional Officer, said: "No longer will employers be allowed to hide behind the argument of legislation not applying beyond territorial waters. Further, this will allow us to take forward the substantive issues affecting offshore workers leave entitlement, including how paid leave should be taken and what constitutes working time."

Amicus is also progressing an employment tribunal case on behalf of its offshore members to argue for backpay for their paid leave entitlement.

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