Came across this - its an old story, but.....
In about 1978, when the big North Sea oil boom was on in Peterhead/Aberdeen and environs, I was talking to an electrician in an Aberdeen pub. He said that he was taken on contract by some drilling company, flown by helicopter (with his tool-kit, which was a condition of employment), and deposited on a drilling platform.
He disembarked the heli with his stuff, then was escorted to a below-decks environment. Once his eyes had adjusted to the low light environment, he realized that he was in some sort of "chamber" with a bunch of other guys, sitting on the floor, leaning against the walls.
Yep - other tradespeople who had been engaged SOLELY because the drilling company was receiving government grants for each person engaged that well exceeded the cost of bringing them on, let alone paying them for the minimum amount of time that they spent on board the drilling platform (don't know whether a drilling platform is considered to be a "vessel").
Anyone with a sense of honour would decamp after a few days. The contract would be declared null and void. The company kept the grants, the tradespeople would return to the mainland with aq few quid, and then seek other employment.
I imagine that I gaped as this fellow told his story. The last 30 years have simply convinced me that stuff like this is absolutely rife in the world, and certainly not confined to the UK.
In about 1978, when the big North Sea oil boom was on in Peterhead/Aberdeen and environs, I was talking to an electrician in an Aberdeen pub. He said that he was taken on contract by some drilling company, flown by helicopter (with his tool-kit, which was a condition of employment), and deposited on a drilling platform.
He disembarked the heli with his stuff, then was escorted to a below-decks environment. Once his eyes had adjusted to the low light environment, he realized that he was in some sort of "chamber" with a bunch of other guys, sitting on the floor, leaning against the walls.
Yep - other tradespeople who had been engaged SOLELY because the drilling company was receiving government grants for each person engaged that well exceeded the cost of bringing them on, let alone paying them for the minimum amount of time that they spent on board the drilling platform (don't know whether a drilling platform is considered to be a "vessel").
Anyone with a sense of honour would decamp after a few days. The contract would be declared null and void. The company kept the grants, the tradespeople would return to the mainland with aq few quid, and then seek other employment.
I imagine that I gaped as this fellow told his story. The last 30 years have simply convinced me that stuff like this is absolutely rife in the world, and certainly not confined to the UK.
