SEAFARERS at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) have overwhelmingly voted to take industrial action over a pay dispute and poor work conditions, their union revealed today.

A statutory ballot with maritime union Nautilus International found 88 per cent of RFA officers were in favour of a walk out and 95 per cent said yes to taking industrial action short of a strike.

Noting a 56 per cent turnout, Nautilus said the result was one of the “largest and most significant RFA ballots ever conducted, both in scale and engagement,” up 32 per cent from the last vote.

The ballot follows the officers’ rejection of a 2025-26 pay offer, which did not meet “real‑terms pay erosion, recruitment and retention pressures, and the need for meaningful modernisation” of contract terms.

Nautilus director of organising Martyn Gray said that with “nearly nine in 10 members” voting to strike, workers have sent “an unmistakable message,” adding that current “arrangements are no longer sustainable.