Strike action: Your stories

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Protesters at the Lindsey oil refinery Unions will recommend striking workers at Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire go back to work, after an improved offer on use of foreign labour was been proposed.

Hundreds of workers across the UK have taken unofficial "sympathy" strike action over the use of foreign contractors at the refinery.

BBC News website readers who work at power plants around the country contacted the BBC to explain the reasons why they decided to take action.

<a class="bodl" href="/1/hi/uk_politics/7868777.stm">Read the full story</a>

BRIAN O'NEILL, LONGANNET POWER STATION

Brian O'Neill at Monday's strikeI've been on strike since Thursday morning from Longannet power station. We are striking because of the action taken at the Lindsey oil refinery.

We feel as if the government is just not listening to us. The full picture is more complicated than it is making out. This is not a racist issue. The way the economy is at the moment, why are we paying foreign labour which is going to take money out of the economy?

The fact is that it should be British jobs for British workers! We only want what should be rightfully ours. Paying for cheaper foreign labour is a false economy. I've worked in this industry for 22 years at all the major chemical power plants. I've never seen a situation like this. There are too many workers and not enough jobs.

I was over at the plant this morning. The feeling amongst the men is that they want to keep fighting for what's right, but this strike action is starting to split the workforce. People are starting to splinter off because of money worries. It's a stressful time for me and my family too, but I feel that the strike should go on until the government listens to us.

MICHELLE, TECHNICAL ASSISTANT, SELLAFIELD

As a worker at Sellafield I'm pleased to see fellow contractors offering their support at Sellafield today. I support the strikes. There's a strong sense of brotherhood in the plant. It's nice to see the kind of spirit where people will stand up and say that they want to be heard.

I believe within any country the native workforce should fill the majority of the posts. At Sellafield I would say that more than 90% of the workers are local. Even the contractors employ their workforce from the local population. I think it's a good thing - everyone in the community pulls together.

Foreign workers shouldn't get paid less for doing the same job. There's a going rate. There should be minimum controls on the wages paid to workers. This would avoid people being undervalued and also stop foreign workers from undercutting the native population. The best qualified should have the best chance.

I've heard the Lindsey plant complaining that there weren't enough skilled workers. They should have thought of that before and invested in the community by training people.

ANDREW WOODS, ELECTRICAL TECHNICIAN, MANCHESTER

I originally come from Grimsby and have worked on the Humberside refineries in the past. I still work in the oil industry on an off-shore oil rig and many of my friends and former colleagues are affected by this. It is great to see the workers' determination to 'fight for what is right' has not changed.

The refinery is not just one of the key employers but it is the heart and soul of the area. So many other industries have closed down in Grimsby recently: fish processing factories, petrochemical companies and chemical plants.

You can't blame the foreign workers for taking the jobs The UK as a nation is in hard times and it is unforgivable that these companies, and above all Gordon Brown, think that it is fair to give our jobs away to foreign workers at cheap rates of pay. You can't blame the foreign workers for taking the jobs, but the companies just seem to be turning a blind eye to local workers.

I have a lot of friends on the picket line. It's a tight-fit group of people who do these jobs and the bonds between them are strong. Naturally, something like this hits them hard.