Paying for the Piper: Capital and Labour in Britain's Offshore Oil Industry

• Published in: Labour (Halifax) 1998, Vol.42 (42), p.304-306
• Main Author: McBride, Michelle
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collective bargaining; Employers; Employment; Explosions; Labor relations; Labor unions; Multinational corporations; Occupational health; Occupational health & safety; Offshore industries; Offshore oil wells; Petroleum; Petroleum industry; Political economy; Power; Reviews/Comptes Rendus; Unionization; United Kingdom; Workers
• ISSN: 0700-3862; 1911-4842
• DOI: 10.2307/25148919

After detailing how the industry developed, and why, the authors' present the response of labour and trade unions to the industry, especially in the wake of the Piper Alpha explosion. Following the Piper Alpha explosion, workers staged a series of strikes protesting health and safety violations, and to call for increased union mobilization. In Part II, [Woolfson], et al. detail this growing workers consciousness. Here it would have been helpful to know how the rank-and-file workers responded to calls for unionization both before and after the Piper Alpha explosion. At one point the authors state that "for the first time in nearly a decade, the antipathy of many of the 'bears' to trade unionism could be overcome." (112) Unfortunately, this tantalizing tidbit is not explored in any depth. Is it the anti-unionism of the multinationals which prevents unionization or lack of workers' support? Or, as the authors suggest, did support for unionization decrease following repressive management actions and economic downswings in the industry? This section concentrates more on the attempts of union activists to organize the industry and neglects aspects such as how workers responded to such calls for unionization. To what extent employee antipathy to trade unions existed and why this is the case is not explored by the authors who instead chose to focus on union activists, perhaps understandably given the availability of official union sources. One wonders if the rugged culture of offshore work led to the creation of a masculine identity, and if this masculine identity affected attempts at unionization. This reviewer is left wondering how much of the "rugged individuality" concept espoused by managers and workers ran contrary to the concept of union organization and collective action. Given the scope of Paying for the Piper, it is understandable that the topic of masculinity is not addressed.