The big companies often contract out for staff. BP did in the late 80's with their sea staff. They were all once BP employees, pension schemes, shares, bonuses etc then they were all made redundant. Next day, they were offered their old jobs back on contracted offshore salaries, still paid for by BP but via bermuda/Isle of Man manning agencies etc so that BP didnt have to pay national insurance etc. BP/Shell/Esso/Chevron all did this I believe. The Agencies were surprised when not everyone took up the offer of their old jobs back. The salaries started downhill after that. Captains of an oil tanker were paid very well in relation to shore based jobs pre 1990's. Now, the only incentive is the tax free status, but they're only paid a little over £60k/yr to master a 300,000t plus tanker full of crude!!! They should be on 6 figures+ really.
Who reading this, would relish taking 2 million barrels of crude oil from Nigeria to the west coast US via Cape Horn, mid winter, and have that sort of responsibility in US waters these days for £60k? No thank you.
Only way I see it, being a helicopter pilot means we get paid for something we enjoy doing in the majority of cases, not always paid as much as we would like but I bet everyone would like more. Oh, and our office has a pretty good view.
Unions can be useful when it comes to pay reviews. To get more money, everyone has to stand together and hold out for decent pay, or just be happy with what you get.