22 June 2009

Oil Workers Burn Dismissal Letters As Strikes Continue

Hundreds of sacked oil workers have continued their protest outside the Lindsey Oil Refinery, by burning their dismissal notices in an act of defiance against French oil giants Total.

Six hundred and fifty workers were sacked by Total, which runs the facility in North Lincolnshire. They were given until 5.00pm today to reapply for their jobs.

Total said it was "encouraged" by the amount of feedback it had from the workers involved.

However, the demonstrators outside the oil plant set light to dozens of letters in a car park opposite the refinery, in a symbolic gesture.

During a rally today, Phil Whitehurst of the GMB union urged people to continue their protests against the redundancies.

He said: "Let them show us how many want to go back in there crawling on their bellies for their jobs.

"We go out together, we go back together."

The GMB is planning to stage a demonstration outside the Lindsey refinery on Tuesday.

The employers took the action in response to more than a week of wildcat strikes over a dispute about jobs at the site.

About 1,200 contract workers took unofficial strike action in a dispute over 51 redundancies at its Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire.

They claim they were not told of 61 new jobs being filled at the same time.

A spokesman for Total said it was hopeful that work on the HDS-3 construction project - which came to a halt due to the wildcat strikes - would restart within a few weeks.

"Total wishes to stress that at no stage has it asked its contract companies to reduce their workforce's pay and conditions in any way and will not seek to do so," the spokesman added.

"Total calls for all parties to respect employment law and to work together within the nationally negotiated agreements to which they are signatories."

(JM/BMcc)