Wildcat strikes set to continue
- 00:01:58
- ITN
Wildcat strikes set to continue
Fresh efforts are being made to stop wildcat strikes spreading across Britain. The industrial action was sparked when Italian and Portuguese constructors were taken on at a Lincolnshire oil refinery. The Government insists there is no policy of discrimination or exclusion and warned about the issue stoking the "politics of xenophobia". Hundreds of strikers at Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire have pledged to continue a protest over operator Total bringing an entire overseas workforce to the UK. Unofficial strike action at the plant has sparked copycat protests from thousands of workers across the country since flaring up last Friday. Another stoppage would come as talks resume between the conciliation service Acas, unions and Total over the company's recruitment process. The oil firm is urging workers involved to return to work at the refinery in North Killingholme as soon as possible, adding: "We recognise the concerns of contractors but we must stress that it has never been, and never will be, the policy of Total to discriminate against British companies or British workers." Speaking in the House of Lords, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said he did not think Total had broken any UK laws and that he was determined to see "robust enforcement" of the country's employment rights. He added: "We should keep our sights set firmly not on the politics of xenophobia but on the economics of this recession." His comments prompted criticism from union leaders who said the issue was not about foreign workers but discrimination against British ones. The stoppage at the £200 million Lindsey plant prompted walkouts by contract workers at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, Heysham nuclear power station in Lancashire and Staythorpe power station near Newark in Nottinghamshire. Workers across Scotland and Wales who took action last week also walked out. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the unofficial strikes were "counter productive", stressing that Total, which runs the Lincolnshire refinery, had repeated it was not discriminating against British workers. Lord Mandelson also told the House of Lords that the oil firm has confirmed that UK workers are considered in the same way as anyone else when vacancies are advertised. Talks at Acas, ordered by the Government after the strike action flared up last week, started on Monday with little sign of a breakthrough. GMB union leader Paul Kenny said the Government was "inching" towards trying to tackle the issue of overseas firms bringing an entire workforce to the UK. "It cannot be right that companies can import workforces and deny access to jobs to UK workers. We have evidence of this happening on other contracts. What the Prime Minister and Peter Mandelson are saying is not what is happening on the ground," he said.
ITN | February 3, 2009
