The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Baker Hughes tells 250 staff to accept lower pay or face losing their jobs
Major Angus employer Baker Hughes has issued redundancy notices to 250 staff and offered new contracts on reduced terms.
Union Unite has accused the oil and gas firm of “laying waste to Scottish jobs”.
According to the union, the firm plans to cut shift and overtime rates by up to 50% through the “fire and rehire” process.
The change affects half of the 500-strong workforce.
A staff member claimed they were given five minutes warning before notices were issued.
They have been told they have until early next month to sign new contracts or lose their jobs.
A Baker Hughes spokesperson said it wants to reduce workers’ pay on one shift pattern and did not want to make redundancies.
The spokesperson said: “The consultation that is currently under way is... not suggesting any reduction in basic hourly pay or any reduction in any overtime rates.”
It comes a year after two rounds of job cuts that shed almost 100 staff.
Unite estimates the proposed changes to contracts could wipe 29% off workers’ pay, equivalent to a £10,500 drop in annual income.
The union said it is set to hold a ballot on industrial action.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Oil and gas businesses like Baker Hughes are making more money than they know what to do with at the moment.
“There is no need whatsoever to lay waste to the jobs and incomes of this Scottish community.
“Baker Hughes’ callous conduct is another shameless case of runaway boardroom greed.
“They should withdraw these plans immediately or face industrial action.
“Workers at the sites are now joining Unite in numbers because they know that this union will deploy every tool at our disposal to see off this abhorrent fire and rehire destruction.
“We will defend these jobs and pay.”
Baker Hughes operates two sites in Montrose, at Charleton Road and Forties Industrial Estate on Brent Avenue.
It made a £31 million investment in its subsea centre of excellence in Montrose in 2019.
One Montrose worker branded the decision a “disgrace”, saying redundancy notices were issued last month.
“Five minutes before we went into the consultation for a new shift allowance, they sent letters saying it was fire and rehire.
“We’re in a cost-of-living crisis, so it’s not the time to be reducing wages.
“We worked right through Covid – we never got anything for that. We kept the place going.
“Then we get to the end of Covid and they tell us they’re going to slash our wages. The place is toxic.”
George Ramsay, Unite industrial officer, said the US-based firm’s behaviour was “shameful”.
Mr Ramsay added: “The company needs to step back from the brink and remove the threat of fire and rehire.
“If they do not, then they will have one hell of a fight on their hands.”
Baker Hughes said it has won fewer subsea contracts and been hit by project deferrals.
The company said it remained committed to its Scottish sites.
“We are doing all we can to protect Scottish jobs across our sites,” a spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately, Baker Hughes has been affected by lower subsea contract activity and an increase in project deferrals, and we are having to respond to the economic impact of this reality.”
The firm says it is following legal processes to “manage this proposed change” while seeking alternatives via consultation.
The spokesperson added: “We are consulting on these proposals with the goal of protecting Scottish jobs across our sites.
“We are doing this in proper consultation with the appropriate representatives of our affected employees.”
“We worked through Covid – we never got anything for that
The business sector, along with everyone else, is feeling the pinch right now as the cost-ofliving crisis bares its teeth. But it is still hard to fathom quite how a major multinational such as Baker Hughes, which is among the world’s biggest companies with a market capitalisation in the tens of billions of dollars and profits in the tens of millions, needs to make savings from its workforce in Angus.
Unite the union certainly does not understand.
It is horrified, quite rightly, at a move to issue redundancy notices to 250 staff.
The union is urging the firm to think again and step away from what it describes as a “fire and rehire” policy in which the terms of the new contracts being brought forward are worse than those which currently exist.
The oil and gas sector generally is volatile and the North Sea is not immune to that as Baker Hughes has noted.
But, with the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict hanging like a spectre over the wholesale energy markets, there are new opportunities for companies to chase.
That is easier to do with a happy, motivated workforce.
Baker Hughes should keep that to the forefront of mind when charting its next move.
Great people, such as those in the firm’s impressive site in Montrose, are the engine which drives huge corporate success.
That contribution should be recognised rather than forgotten, and staff – who are often, shamefully, reduced to no more than an expense on a boardroom spreadsheet – treated with the respect they deserve.
Baker Hughes has the resources to change its mind and back its workers rather than sack them.
That is the right thing to do and would send a message that the company is much more than a heartless corporate monolith which puts profit ahead of people.
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Baker Hughes has the resources to change its mind