Neo Next offshore workers secure pay rise worth over £4,000 ($5,300) after strike threat on North Sea platforms
AI-madeAround 50 offshore workers at Neo Next’s Elgin Franklin and North Alwyn platforms have accepted an enhanced one-year pay deal worth over £4,000 ($5,300) per worker — just days before strikes were set to begin on 22 July.
The agreement, reached between the Unite union and employer Neo Next + Energy E&P UK LTD, headed off what would have been the latest in a string of pay disputes hitting North Sea platforms.
Workers accept enhanced one-year pay deal
The roughly 50 workers who backed the deal cover several key roles across both platforms — control room operators, production operators, senior operators, and operations and production technicians. These are skilled people, and their absence would hit platform operations hard.
It came together through a merger between NEO NEXT and TotalEnergies’ UK upstream oil and gas operations, bringing substantial assets into one portfolio.
The one-year deal increases total pay by over £4,000 ($5,300), combining rises in basic pay and offshore allowance. It’s a meaningful gain, and one workers had to push for. Strikes were scheduled for 22 July, but the deal landed before anyone walked out.
Both Elgin Franklin and North Alwyn are operated by Neo Next + Energy E&P UK LTD. Getting workers on these assets to settle matters well beyond the company itself carries real implications for broader North Sea output.
The strike threat drove a 75 percent improvement in the original offer
The £4,000 ($5,300) figure gets the attention, but something else tells the more important story. Unite says the strike threat delivered a 75 percent improvement on Neo Next’s original offer. That’s a substantial jump by any measure.
According to Unite, it was the strong strike mandate among members that pushed the employer back to the table with a substantially better package. Without that leverage, the outcome would likely have looked very different.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham was direct about what made the difference. “The Neo Next workers stood firm to get the pay deal they deserved,” she said. “Through the threat of strike action, they have substantially increased the pay offer, and this dispute demonstrates what can be achieved when workers collectively fight for better jobs, pay, and conditions.”
Industrial officer Stevie Davies backed that up and made the timeline clear. “The enhanced pay offer only came after the strong strike mandate,” he said, “and we are pleased this dispute has been positively resolved with the support of our membership.” Davies added that members “remained resolute throughout and refused to buckle,” which suggests earlier talks had stalled before the mandate shifted things.
Workers voted, the mandate was secured, and then the improved offer arrived. That’s the story Unite is telling, and the facts line up with it.
Neo Next is the North Sea’s largest independent oil and gas producer
Neo Next + Energy E&P Limited isn’t a small operation. The company is the largest independent oil and gas producer in the North Sea—a significant position in one of Europe’s most important energy regions.
It came together through a merger between NEO NEXT and TotalEnergies’ UK upstream oil and gas operations, bringing substantial assets into one portfolio. Elgin Franklin and North Alwyn are among the headline platforms in that combined holding.
Financially, things have shifted recently. TotalEnergies E&P UK Limited—the predecessor entity on the UK side. That decline gives some context for why an employer might resist pay demands, though it doesn’t fully explain a gap wide enough to require a 75 percent improvement to close.
For workers on these platforms, the company’s scale and profitability form part of the backdrop to any pay negotiation. A company billing itself as the sector’s largest independent producer faces different expectations from its workforce than a smaller operator would.
Broader context of offshore pay disputes in the North Sea
This dispute doesn’t exist in isolation. Pay tensions in the UK offshore energy sector have been a recurring theme, and Unite has been active across multiple North Sea operators over recent years.
The resolution at Neo Next will get noticed. When a pay offer improves by roughly 75 percent following a strike mandate — and not a single day of industrial action actually happens — that becomes a data point other workers and employers will factor into their own calculations. It sets an informal reference for how similar negotiations might unfold elsewhere in the sector.
Avoiding walkouts on two major platforms also matters for North Sea production more broadly. The sector is sensitive to disruption, and what could have been a real supply-side interruption was sidestepped entirely.
The enhanced deal means no strike
Here’s what happened: around 50 offshore workers at Neo Next’s Elgin Franklin and North Alwyn platforms secured a one-year pay deal worth over £4,000 ($5,300) per worker. The deal covers control room operators, production operators, senior operators, and operations and production technicians.
Unite says the threat of industrial action improved Neo Next’s original offer by approximately 75 percent. Strikes had been scheduled for 22 July but were avoided once the enhanced deal was accepted.
Neo Next + Energy E&P Limited is the North Sea’s largest independent oil and gas producer, formed through a merger with TotalEnergies’ UK upstream operations. The reported post-tax profits of $95.6 million in 2024, a steep drop from $305.4 million the year before.
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
