The move has been blasted by employees who say the company is effectively moving their workforce to Zero hour contracts by paying people off and then extending their notice period continuously or by re-hiring redundant staff on very short contracts.

Oil and Gas People has seen correspondence between Stork HR and an offshore employee. The first official letter advised the employee that their position had been made redundant and that they would need to work a 1week notice period.

On the day the employee expected to be finishing up they received another official HR letter from Stork advising that their notice period had been extended. The letter said: “I write to confirm that your notice period will now be extended for the duration that your services are required by us.” Six weeks later another letter was issued advising of yet another extension.

Another employee told Oil and Gas People how he had over 10 years service with Stork and was paid off only to be re-hired days later for a 3 week trip.

Tommy Campbell, Chair of the Offshore Trade Unions coordinating group said “If any offshore worker believes their redundancy is not genuine they should get in touch with their respective trade union and have the redundancy situation challenged in direct discussions with their employer and if necessary by submitting an appeal against the termination of employment.”

Stork is a company that is traditionally busy over the summer months when many North Sea installations shut down for maintenance and upgrades. According to our sources the company has approx. 300 workers offshore who are currently on their notice period although Stork refused to comment on the exact figures when approached by Oil and Gas People. They did however comment to say:

“Stork UK & Africa is a leading provider of asset integrity and maintenance services in the UKCS, presently employing close to 2,000 offshore personnel. Our first and foremost commitment is to our people and their safety.

“The size of our offshore workforce has always been managed to meet the seasonal and project demands of our customers, which can vary significantly month to month. The majority of our offshore workforce has not been placed on notice or risk of redundancy, however we are actively managing the seasonal and project fluctuations with appropriate employee engagement.

“Stork is a committed and active member of the Offshore Contractor’s Association (OCA) and has no current plans to change this position.”

An offshore safety advisor told Oil and Gas People that shutdowns were already critical times when there is lots of extra pressure and time constraints to get work done. “Having people working in that environment often on unfamiliar platforms and at unfamiliar work fronts with the additional stress of knowing they could be out of work any day, is putting peoples health and safety at risk.”