Shell said that oil and gas production won't be hurt by a 48-hour strike across the eight platforms it operates Thursday, stressing the need for changes given the pressures of low crude prices.
The industrial action has been called by Unite and the RMT unions, with the workers predominantly engaged in safety maintenance. This the second time the workers have gone on strike since late July.
"After savage redundancies and attacks on workload and working conditions this group of offshore workers have been told that they are going to be railroaded into accepting pay cuts of up to 30%. They have chosen not to bend the knee, they have chosen to stand up and fight," RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said.
Further strike action by some 400 workers at contractor company Wood Group is also expected over the following weeks.
The oil major expressed its disappointment with the decision.
"The UK oil and gas industry is facing an unprecedented challenge with the lower oil price environment and structural change is needed if the North Sea is to remain competitive," Shell said in a statement.
CEO Ben van Beurden said last week that Shell is making "significant and lasting" changes that will reshape the company for the long term as it reported a slump in second-quarter profits and mounting debt.
Shell said it hoped Wood Group's employees and management would continue in their discussions so that a resolution may be reached, which will halt this industrial action. Cash, meanwhile, said that the "unions remain available for serious and meaningful talks." The platforms involved are: Shearwater, Gannet, Nelson, Curlew, Brent Delta, Brent Alpha, Brent Bravo and Brent Charlie.
Shell also noted that planned stoppages at Nelson and Shearwater to undertake maintenance have commenced and are expected to last until early next week.
According to the latest field-by-field data from the UK government from February, the fields produced a combined 105 million cu m of associated gas (3.6 million cu m/d) and some 37,260 b/d of liquids.
