Wildcat strikers given the sack by Total

Friday 19th June 2009

Oil giant Total has sacked almost 900 members of staff at the Lindsey oil refinery for taking unofficial strike action.

Last week around 1,200 construction workers walked out of the plant in a dispute over a series of redundancies, claiming agreements had been made not to cut any jobs.

The owners of the North Lincolnshire plant, Total, however claim no such agreement had been reached and asked the staff to return to work.

Then on Thursday night the company announced that hundreds of workers had been sacked for taking part in an "unofficial illegal walkout".

A statement from Total declared: "The contractor workforce has been engaged in an unofficial, illegal walkout since last Thursday June 11th. This action has been repudiated by both the Unite and GMB unions.

"The main contract company, Jacobs, and Total have repeatedly sought to encourage the workforce to return to work so that proper negotiations can take place.

"This is in line with the union and industry agreed process that negotiations over illegal strikes cannot commence until the workforce has returned to work. It is frustrating and disappointing that these attempts have failed."

The unions have roundly criticised the decision and have called for all parties to return to the negotiating table to resolve the issue.

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