Deal proposed to end strikes
- 00:01:49
- ITN
Deal proposed to end strikes
A deal has been reached in the bitter row over foreign workers being employed at an oil refinery, according to reports. Wildcat strikes broke out after Total, the company which runs the Lindsey plant in Lincolnshire, chose an Italian firm to carry out work over a British one. After marathon talks, it is now thought half of the jobs of the disputed contract will be offered to UK employees. The conciliation service Acas chaired Tuesday's meeting between union officials, representatives of Total, which owns the refinery at the centre of the dispute, and the Italian sub-contractor which has hired its own workforce. Unions claimed that British workers had been excluded from the contract with Irem, which has brought around 200 Italian and Portuguese workers to the UK. On Tuesday night, Acas said: "Conclusions are to be discussed with a large group of local trade union officials first thing tomorrow morning. This will be followed by a mass meeting of the workforce." National union leaders were waiting to see details of the formula, which is likely to be put to the mass meeting. The development came after another day of copycat strikes at power stations and other sites across the country in the increasingly bitter dispute. Hundreds of strikers held another protest at the Lindsey refinery and they are expected to continue their dispute until a deal is reached. Unofficial strike action at the plant sparked solidarity protests, with around 500 workers at Shell's Stanlow Oil Refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and 250 at Hartlepool engineering company Heerema joining the national walkout on Tuesday. Labour MP John Mann (Bassetlaw) tabled a Commons early day motion "deploring" the use of foreign workers at the Lindsey refinery, and congratulating unions for "exposing this exploitation and the absence of equal opportunities to apply for all jobs". Total has been urging workers to end the unofficial action at the refinery in North Killingholme as soon as possible, stressing that it had never discriminated against British companies or British workers.
ITN | February 4, 2009
