The 2009 Lindsey Oil Refinery strikes were a sequence of wildcat strikes that affected the energy business in the United Kingdom in 2009. The action involved workers at around a dozen vitality websites throughout the UK who walked out in help of different British staff at the entire’s Lindsey Oil Refinery. The Lindsey Oil Refinery construction workers went on strike because employment was not offered to them on a £200 million construction contract to construct a hydro desulphurisation unit at the site.[1][2]

January 2009 action[edit]

On 28 January 2009, roughly 800 of Lindsey Oil Refinery’s local contractors went on strike following the appointment by the Italian development contractor IREM of several hundred European (primarily Italian and Portuguese) contractors on the site at a time of high unemployment in the local and international economic system. The motion attracted appreciable media curiosity.[Three][4][5][6][7]

Employees contended that the strike was in defence of a national settlement determining wages and conditions in the industry.[Eight]

The protests had been largely portrayed within the British media as being solely about the use of the European Union’s Posted Staff Directive to discriminate against British workers,[9] prompting Unite the union to make a press release on 4 February[1] to refute xenophobic feedback in the media. Since European Union legislation enshrines the fitting to the liberty of movement for workers between EU member states, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown mentioned: “After i talked about British jobs, I used to be speaking about giving people in Britain the abilities, in order that they’ve the ability to get jobs which had been at current going to individuals from abroad, and actually encouraging people to take up the courses and the schooling and studying that is necessary for British staff to be much more expert for the long run.” Asked for his message to folks considering the wildcat strikes, he said: “That that is not the appropriate factor to do and it isn’t defensible.” Italian and Portuguese construction employees, dwelling on barges in close by docks, have been set to beginning work there. British trade unions claimed Britons weren’t given any opportunity to use for the posts.[10]

Further contractors at different sites within the United Kingdom also initiated action on account of the protests.[11] On 30 January, round seven hundred workers at the Grangemouth Oil Refinery in central Scotland walked out in solidarity with the North Lincolnshire strikers. They had been additionally joined by 50 strikers in Aberthaw, in South Wales, 400 at the ICI site in Wilton, Teesside. and walkouts also passed off at British Petroleum in Saltend, Hull.[12]

Following a number of days of talks between representatives from Total and the GMB union which have been chaired by Acas, a deal was finally struck on 5 February and staff at the refinery agreed to return to work the next Monday. The deal would see 102 new jobs being created for British employees along with the posts awarded to an IREM.[13] An earlier deal that may have seen the creation of 60 British jobs (40 skilled and 20 unskilled) had been rejected.[14] On sixteen February an Acas report concluded that Whole had not broken the legislation in employing Italian employees at the refinery.[15]

The strike at Lindsey resumed on eleven June 2009,[16] after a subcontractor at the location laid off numerous workers,[17] later confirmed to be fifty one. The strike was quickly adopted by sympathy strikes at Cheshire’s Fiddlers Ferry Energy Station on 15 June and Aberthaw on 17 June.[18] The strikes escalated on 18 June, with walkouts at Drax Power Station and Eggborough Energy Station in Yorkshire and Ratcliffe-on-Soar Energy Station in Nottinghamshire, BP Saltend, and the BOC oxygen plant at Scunthorpe.[19]

June 2009 motion[edit]

On 19 June 2009 almost seven-hundred building employees have been sacked on the Lindsey Oil Refinery.[20] The sackings got here following 1,200 workers walking out unofficially at the plant in a jobs dispute. The next plants walked out in sympathy:[21]

– Stanlow oil refinery, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
– Aberthaw, Cardiff
Ferrybridge power station, West Yorkshire
Staythorpe Energy Station, Nottinghamshire
– Ensus site, Wilton chemical complicated, Teesside
– Drax and Eggborough power stations, close to Selby, North Yorkshire
– Fiddler’s Ferry energy station in Cheshire

Paul Kenny, Normal Secretary of the GMB trade union, said: “GMB condemn the action of Complete. Whole have for a full week refused to fulfill the union to resolve the problems by ACAS. It seems fairly obvious that there’s a mass case of victimisation happening here. Locking out the workforce at Lindsay is not going to clear up the problem. It will escalate it.”[22]

Staff on the Lindsey refinery have been invited to re-apply for their jobs, with managers at Complete giving them a deadline of 17:00 on Monday 22 June 2009 to do so. Nevertheless, angered by the actions of the administration, employees burned their dismissal letters at a protest outside the refinery.[23] Around 3,000 employees at different sites around the country additionally walked out in assist of the Lindsey employees.[23]

Negotiations between Complete and representatives of the GMB union have been adjourned on Tuesday 23 June with some progress having been made, but sources stated quite a lot of “vital obstacles” remained outstanding before the dispute may very well be resolved.[24] Talks resumed on 25 June,[24] and an agreement was reached late that night to end the industrial action, accepted at a mass assembly outdoors the refinery on the following Monday.[25] The deal included the reinstatement of the 647 employees at the Lindsey site who had been sacked for taking unofficial action, gives of alternative jobs for the 51 employees laid off, and assurances that staff at power stations and oil and gas terminals who walked out in sympathy wouldn’t be victimised.[25] On 29 June employees at the refinery voted to simply accept the deal.[26]

^ a b Unite’s assertion on the Lindsey Oil Refinery dispute
^ “Refinery strikes spread across UK”. BBC Information. 30 January 2009. Retrieved sixteen May 2011.
^ Barrow, Becky; Sims, Paul (31 January 2009). “‘British jobs for British employees’: Wildcat strikes spread over foreign workers shipped into the UK”. Every day Mail. Retrieved 16 Might 2011.
^ “Mass walkout over international labour”. BBC News Online. BBC. 28 January 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^ “A whole lot of oil refinery workers stroll out over jobs given to international staff”. Each day Telegraph. 28 January 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^ “Brits can kiss jobs goodbye”. Daily Star. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^ “Britons walk out in foreign jobs protest”. Day by day Specific. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^ “Lindsey oil refinery dispute deadlock continues”. The Guardian. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2014. Keith Gibson, of the GMB, informed an early morning meeting of strikers in the refinery automotive park at the moment: “This might be an important dispute the development industry has seen for 30 years to defend the nationwide agreement.”
^ Sawer, Patrick (1 February 2009). “Wildcat strikes: Q&A”. Day by day Telegraph. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^ British PM slams strikers in EU workers row, Agence France Press (31 January 2009)
^ “A whole lot be a part of refineries walkout”. BBC News Online. BBC. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^ “Refinery strikes spread across UK”. BBC News Online. BBC. 30 January 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^ “Refinery employees vote to end strike”. BBC On-line. 5 February 2009. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved sixteen February 2009.
^ Coates, Sam (4 February 2009). “Deal over British employees at Lindsey refinery is rejected”. London: Times Online. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
^ “Acas backs refinery dispute agency”. BBC Online. 16 February 2009. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
^ “Contemporary walkout over refinery jobs”. oil And Gas Production BBC On-line. 11 June 2009. Archived from the unique on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
^ Weardon, Graeme (11 June 2009). “Lindsey oil refinery workers stroll out in redundancies row”. London: The Guardian. Archived from the unique on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
^ “Sympathy refinery strikes staged”. BBC On-line. 17 June 2009. Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
^ “Wildcat refinery strike escalates”. BBC On-line. 18 June 2009. Archived from the original on 21 June 2009. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
^ Stokes, Paul (19 June 2009). “Walk-outs after mass sacking at Lindsey oil refinery”. London: Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the unique on 22 June 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
^ “Oil plant sackings spark walkouts”. BBC Information. 19 June 2009. Archived from the unique on 22 June 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
^ “GMB Condemn Whole For Sackings At Lindsay Oil Refinery”. GMB. 19 June 2009. Archived from the unique on 30 July 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
^ a b “Refinery sackings spark walkouts”. BBC News. 22 June 2009. Archived from the unique on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
^ a b Jones, Alan (25 June 2009). “Strikers to take protest to Paris”. London: The Unbiased. Archived from the original on 27 June 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
^ a b Jones, Alan (26 June 2009). “Deal ends oil refinery strikes”. London: The Unbiased. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
^ “Vote ends refinery jobs dispute”. BBC News. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2009.