UNITE offshore medics are celebrating after their union won recognition with TAC Healthcare on Repsol North Sea platforms.

About 20 medics, who provide essential life-saving services on Repsol’s Arbroath, AUK, Bleoholm, Claymore, Clyde, Fulmar, Montrose and Piper Bravo platforms, will now have the protection of collective bargaining.

Welcoming the agreement, Unite industrial officer John Boland said: “The recognition agreement covering TAC Healthcare workers on Repsol’s platforms is another step forward for medics in the offshore sector. 

“These workers provide a vital and lifeline service.

“The agreement provides a strong platform for Unite to secure even better working conditions for our medics going forward.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the deal marks the latest in a series won by the union in the North Sea oil and gas industry over recent years, a sector once notorious for its hostility to trade union organising.

She added: “There is no doubt the hard work which Unite is putting in to represent workers in the oil and gas sector is paying off and helping us to deliver better jobs, pay and conditions for offshore medics.”