Nautilus has expressed its 'deep disappointment' with North Star (Guernsey) South (NSGS) over its decision to make compulsory crew redundancies onboard vessels owned by Boston Putford Offshore.
NSGS rejected Union calls for voluntary redundancy and furloughing due to the 'catastrophic' dip in oil and gas prices during the Covid-19 crisis, which it does not expect to recover from for some time.
'I would have thought in the bigger scheme of things, decisions would be based on putting people first, not just about profit,' National organiser Steve Doran said, expressing 'deep disappointment' with NSGS.
NSGS has earmarked up to 78 jobs for redundancy including crew onboard the BPOS Harvester, Putford Athena and Putford Enterprise.
BPOS Harvester recently entered warm layup in Lowestoft and both the Putford Athena and Putford Enterprise have very recently been served with termination notice from their long-term contracts.
NSGS does not operate a UK bank account and therefore does not meet requirements for accessing the government-run furlough scheme.
Voluntary redundancy was not an option due to 'increased costs', which could mean the difference between the company surviving or going under, it said.
'Volunteers tend to be the oldest / longest serving crew members who generally are entitled to the highest redundancy payments,' NSGS said.
'Our current aim is to still be in business and in a position to offer employment to both sea and shore staff over the next few months and beyond.'
Nautilus International will continue to engage collectively and members are welcome to forward suggestions and opinion to Industrial@Nautilusint.org.
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