June 2009 Action
On 19 June 2009 nearly 700 construction staff were sacked at the Lindsey Oil Refinery. The sackings came following 1,200 workers walking out unofficially at the plant in a jobs dispute. The following plants walked out in sympathy:
- Stanlow oil refinery, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
- Aberthaw, Cardiff
- Ferrybridge power station, West Yorkshire
- Staythorpe Power Station, Nottinghamshire
- Ensus site, Wilton chemical complex, Teesside
- Drax and Eggborough power stations, near Selby, North Yorkshire
- Fiddler's Ferry power station in Cheshire
Paul Kenny, General Secretary of the GMB trade union, said: "GMB condemn the action of Total. Total have for a full week refused to meet the union to resolve the problems through ACAS. It seems pretty obvious that there is a mass case of victimisation taking place here. Locking out the workforce at Lindsay will not solve the problem. It will escalate it."
Workers at the Lindsey refinery were invited to re-apply for their jobs, with managers at Total giving them a deadline of 17:00 on Monday 22 June 2009 to do so. However, angered by the actions of the management, workers burned their dismissal letters at a protest outside the refinery. Around 3,000 workers at other sites around the country also walked out in support of the Lindsey workers.
Negotiations between Total and representatives of the GMB union were adjourned on Tuesday 23 June with some progress having been made, but sources said a number of "significant barriers" remained outstanding before the dispute could be resolved. Talks resumed on 25 June, and an agreement was reached late that evening to end the industrial action, accepted at a mass meeting outside the refinery on the following Monday. The deal included the reinstatement of the 647 workers at the Lindsey site who had been sacked for taking unofficial action, offers of alternative jobs for the 51 workers laid off, and assurances that workers at power stations and oil and gas terminals who walked out in sympathy would not be victimised. On 29 June workers at the refinery voted to accept the deal.
Read more about this topic: 2009 Lindsey Oil Refinery Strikes
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