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Action urged over energy strikes Talks begin over energy strikes
(about 2 hours later)
The government is coming under increasing pressure to intervene in the growing industrial unrest over imported labour affecting oil and energy plants. Ministers are keeping "close contact" with talks aimed at ending strikes at energy plants, the government says.
Hundreds of UK workers have gone on "sympathy strikes" to support a walkout by energy workers in Lincolnshire angry at the use of foreign workers. Hundreds of employees across the UK have walked out in support of striking workers in Lincolnshire who are angry at the use of foreign labour.
The original strike began at Lindsey Oil Refinery after owner Total gave a £200m contract to Italian firm IREM. The Acas mediation service was talking to unions and employers on Saturday, as pressure grew on the government to act.
The Unite union said it had urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take action. While no formal ministerial talks are planned, staff from several departments are in touch with energy firms.
Unite regional officer Bernard McAuley said on Friday that the leaders of Unite and the GMB had urged the prime minister to call an urgent meeting with the heads of industry in the engineering and construction industry. Officials from Downing Street, the Business and Enterprise, and Energy and Climate Change departments are involved.
'Notorious' The original strike began at Lindsey Oil Refinery after owner Total gave a £200m contract to Italian firm IREM and prompted "sympathy strikes" across the country.
Ministers have also asked the conciliation service, Acas, to investigate the facts behind the dispute. British Nuclear Fuels has also confirmed that 900 contractors at Sellafield station in Cumbria are to meet on Monday to discuss possible industrial action. ENERGY WORKERS' PROTESTS 1. Grangemouth oil refinery, Central Scotland2. Scottish Power's Longannet power station, Fife3. Scottish Power's Cockenzie power station, East Lothian4. Shell gas processing plant, St Fergus, Aberdeenshire5. British Energy power station, Torness, East Lothian6. Mossmorran chemical plant, Fife7. Npower Aberthaw power station, south Wales8. South Hook natural gas terminal, Milton Haven, Pembrokeshire9. ICI chemical refinery at Wilton, Teesside10. Corus steel plant near Redcar, Teesside11. Scottish & Southern's Fiddler's Ferry power station, Cheshire12. AES Kilroot power station, County Antrim13. Marchwood power station, Hampshire class="" href="/1/hi/uk/7860992.stm">Where are protests taking place?
Labour backbencher John Cruddas called on the government, including the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, to urgently address the underlying causes of the resentment. The government called in Acas to look into claims that British workers were being illegally excluded from engineering and construction projects, while unions have urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to meet heads of industry in the sectors.
He told the BBC: "It's the employers in these instances which are culpable and we need to confront some of them who are notorious in this sector. Labour backbencher John Cruddas said the government should be "banging head together" to urgently address the underlying causes of the resentment.
ENERGY WORKERS' PROTESTS 1. Grangemouth oil refinery, Central Scotland2. Scottish Power's Longannet power station, Fife3. Scottish Power's Cockenzie power station, East Lothian4. Shell gas processing plant, St Fergus, Aberdeenshire5. British Energy power station, Torness, East Lothian6. Mossmorran chemical plant, Fife7. Npower Aberthaw power station, south Wales8. South Hook natural gas terminal, Milton Haven, Pembrokeshire9. ICI chemical refinery at Wilton, Teesside10. Corus steel plant near Redcar, Teeside11. Scottish & Southern's Fiddler's Ferry power station, Cheshire12. AES Kilroot power station, County Antrim13. Marchwood power station, Hampshire class="" href="/1/hi/uk/7860992.stm">Where are protests taking place? He told the BBC: "It's the employers in these instances which are culpable and we need to confront some of them who are notorious in this sector."
"The government and Mr Miliband should be banging heads together this weekend to resolve it." Total has said there would be no "direct redundancies" as a result of handing the contract to construct a new unit at the Lindsey plant to the Italian firm, and that the tendering process had been "fair".
British Nuclear Fuels confirmed that 900 contractors at Sellafield station in Cumbria are to meet on Monday to discuss possible industrial action. IREM employs a specialist workforce and its 300 or more employees would be paid the same as existing contractors on the project, Total's bosses added.
Total has said there would be no "direct redundancies" as a result of the decision to award the contract at Lindsey Oil Refinery to the Italian firm. Cleethorpes MP Shona McIsaac (Labour) said the decision to hire foreign workers was like a "red rag to a bull" to local unemployed people.
The firm added that staff employed by IREM would be paid the same as existing contractors on the project. More than 300 of its workers have been brought in to do the work. But the Prime Minister's spokesman said the contracts were awarded some time ago when there was a shortage of labour in the construction sector.
Sites affected by sympathy walk-outs include Fiddlers Ferry power station, Warrington, Cheshire; Grangemouth oil refinery in central Scotland; South Hook Liquified Natural Gas terminal in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire; and Kilroot Power station near Larne, County Antrim. Mr Brown said he "understood" people's worries and that the government was doing everything it could help individuals back into work.
Total bosses said IREM, which employs a specialist workforce, had won the contract to construct the new HDS-3 unit at the Lindsey plant, after a "fair" tendering process. Workers have demanded he fulfil a promise he made at the 2007 Labour Party conference of providing "British jobs for British workers".
The prime minister's spokesman has said the government would hold talks with the construction industry in the next few days "to ensure they are doing all they can to support the UK economy". However, employment Minister Pat McFadden said this had not meant that UK firms would be encouraged to flout European laws on free mobility of labour.
He said the contracts at the Lindsey refinery were awarded some time ago when there was a shortage of labour in the construction sector, which was now not the case. And UKIP leader Nigel Farage said Acas would be powerless to help because European law barred countries from reserving jobs for its own workers.
When asked about the growing action, Mr Brown - speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland - said he "understood" people's worries. "It doesn't matter how many meetings are held, how much or how loud anyone shouts... we signed away our rights when we joined this prison of nations that is the EU," he said.
He said the government was doing "everything we can" to shore up the economy as well as help individuals back into work.
Speaking on Friday from Wilton, on Teesside, one protester urged the prime minister to take action, saying: "All we want is for Gordon Brown to fulfil his promise. He said British jobs for British workers."
But Employment Minister Pat McFadden said the prime minister's promise of "British jobs for British workers" at the Labour Party conference in 2007 had not meant that UK firms would be encouraged to flout European laws on free mobility of labour.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said he hoped workers would return to work quickly after making their point.
HAVE YOUR SAY Where is the humanity in ruining someone's local environment by building a massive industrial refinery and then bringing in people from around the world to work there? Ben Platt, LiverpoolSend us your commentsHAVE YOUR SAY Where is the humanity in ruining someone's local environment by building a massive industrial refinery and then bringing in people from around the world to work there? Ben Platt, LiverpoolSend us your comments
Unite's governing national executive has called for a national protest in Westminster, and joint general secretary Derek Simpson said it was consulting its lawyers over the legality of engineering and construction employment practices. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said refinery workers were "rightly angry" at employers denying British-based workers the chance to apply for new jobs.
In a statement, Total said it "recognised" the concerns of contractors. "The employer will be in breach of the law if they restrict any future vacancies to workers of a particular nationality or location," he added.
"It is important to note that we have been a major local employer for 40 years with 550 permanent staff employed at the refinery. In a statement, Total said it "recognised" the concerns of contractors, that it had been a major local employer for 40 years and had 550 permanent staff employed at the refinery.
"There are also between 200 and 1,000 contractors working at the refinery, the vast majority of which work for UK companies employing local people." A majority of between 200 and 1,000 contractors working at the refinery were employed by UK firms, it added.
The HDS-3 unit affected is separate to the main refinery. Total said the action has not affected normal operations. It said the affected unit was separate to the main refinery and that the action has not affected normal operations.