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Copter pilots reject latest Bristow offer
Arthur Macdonald
Offshore helicopter pilots and search-and-rescue crews throughout the UK have rejected the latest pay offer from operator Bristow.
The British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa) yesterday overwhelmingly said no to the deal which it estimated offered captains between 5.5% and 14.1% on basic pay.
The helicopter pilots are demanding parity with fixed-wing pilots, an issue that has been a running sore in the offshore industry for some time.
The salaries of helicopter captains average about £50,000 a year compared with £80,000 for fixed-wing captain.
North Sea helicopter operators have been losing pilots to the airlines because of the differential.
The Bristow pay negotiations cover some 180 employees in Scotland and 220 in England, largely in the oil industry but including rescue crews at Bristow's four stations at Stornoway, Sumburgh, Lee on Solent and Portland.
Captain Richard Maloney, who represents Balpa at Bristow, said: "Although Bristow has gone some way to address the urgent issue of pay and the growing problem of pilot recruitment and retention especially in the North Sea, our members believe it has not gone far enough.
"Under the company's offer, there would still be a significant and unacceptable pay gap between Bristow's highly skilled helicopter pilots and pilots of fixed-wing aircraft. We are therefore calling on the company to significantly improve its offer."
Mick Rowsell, a search-and-rescue aircrewman, added: "Aircrewmen based at Bristow's search-and-rescue stations strongly feel that Bristow has failed to address properly a number of long-standing pay issues.
"Bristow's aircrewmen now earn significantly less that their military counterparts. This cannot continue."
A spokesman for Bristow said that the negotiations which began in May were continuing and hoped the talks would be brought to a successful conclusion. He added: "Bristow helicopters believes that it has made a good offer that would result in a significant increase both to basic pay and allowances payable to flying crew and is disappointed that, although Balpa itself recommended its members accept the offer, members have decided negotiations should continue