A union has raised the threat of a strike by North Sea workers in a dispute over terms and conditions.
Unite claimed that contractors are using the slump in oil prices to "railroad through" changes to pensions, shifts and sick pay.
Around 2,500 workers, including electricians, plumbers , mechanics and riggers, will be asked if they want to be balloted for industrial action.
Branding the changes "opportunistic", Unite officer Tommy Campbell said: "Following the failure to agree, we will consult our Offshore Contractors Association membership asking them to consider a range of responses, including strike action.
"The downturn in oil price has seen our members' terms and conditions under attack like never before and while the threat of severe cuts hangs over them, contractors are offering no safeguards in return.
"What we want is for the OCA to work with us to preserve jobs, skills and sustain offshore safety rather than impose these opportunistic, unsustainable and unworkable changes to livelihoods.
"Oil prices will recover but knee-jerk cuts to jobs and standards will only undermine the future prosperity and safety of the industry in the long term."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article