Making our mark at Ørsted

National secretary Steve Thomas writes about his visits and meetings with Ørsted last week, following the announcement of a landmark recognition agreement between Prospect and the world’s largest offshore wind developer.

Steve Thomas at Ørsted

Our recognition agreement with Ørsted sees Prospect recognised as the sole negotiating body for the terms and conditions of Ørsted’s operations and maintenance staff, which numbers around 450 employees at its 12 UK offshore wind farms.

This is a big step forward and good opportunity for recruitment. So, to mark the occasion myself and my Prospect colleague John Storey visited the Ørsted sites at Barrow-in-Furness and Wallasey over consecutive days to meet with the company and the staff.

At both sites we gave an introductory presentation and answered questions from the Ørsted employees covered by the union recognition agreement, such as technicians, but post holders in several other types of jobs were also present.

We talked about Prospect, our energy sector and renewables; about our campaigning work and ambition for the sector; and shared examples of previous negotiations where we have been able to help our existing members.

Underlining this point about being part of a larger union and sharing a common purpose, we were able to pass on good wishes from reps from other branches too, such as EDF, Scottish Power Renewables, BAE systems and Sellafield.

The meetings were very well attended and there seemed to be a lot of interest in Prospect and what we can do for Ørsted employees.

It wasn’t just a one-way conversation either. We got important feedback from employees on, for example, the impact of the cost of living crisis as well as finding out more about local issues, such as resourcing and work patterns.

We managed to sign up new members on the day at both sites and more have signed up online since then with our three-month free offer. I got good feedback on the professionalism and thoroughness of the presentation, which is always nice to receive!

Future plans

As well as meeting staff, we also took the opportunity to meet with local Ørsted management and HR representatives.

Building upon and strengthening these relationships will be key for the future. As the recognised trade union, we have a great deal of scope to win for members through consultation and formal negotiation.

We now have further meetings planned to meet remaining staff on the west and east coasts and have started seeking reps to support our work and developing a strategy to take issues forward on behalf of all existing and future Ørsted members.

It is tremendously gratifying that, with this recognition agreement in place, employees at Ørsted now have an effective voice to raise concerns and to engage constructively with management. As ever, our members will determine our priorities.

This agreement is a key and rewarding moment for Prospect’s long-standing commitment to, and advocacy in, the renewables sector. For example, we have long-championed investing in skills; created a 10-point plan for a green recovery and stand at the vanguard of the campaign for a Just Transition.

We remain committed to securing improvements for the entire renewables workforce and lobbying in support of the wider renewables industry to ensure that investment and infrastructure are in place so that we don’t just meet current targets, but go beyond them in the journey to Net Zero.