2009 Lindsey Oil Refinery strikes

Lindsey Oil Refinery

Industry	Oil refining
Headquarters	Lincolnshire , United Kingdom

The 2009 Lindsey Oil Refinery strikes consisted of a series of wildcat strikes that affected the United Kingdom's energy industry. Employees at approximately twelve locations ceased work in solidarity with British personnel at Total's Lindsey Oil Refinery, protesting the exclusion of local laborers from a £200 million project to construct a hydro desulphurisation unit.

January 2009 action

On 28 January 2009, roughly 800 local contractors at Lindsey Oil Refinery initiated a strike after the Italian firm IREM employed several hundred workers primarily from Italy and Portugal amid elevated unemployment rates in the area. This labor action received extensive media attention.

The workforce characterized the strike as a defense of national agreements concerning pay and working conditions. Media outlets predominantly depicted it as resistance to the EU's Posted Workers Directive, which led Unite the Union to challenge xenophobic interpretations. At the same time, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed the importance of enhancing British workers' skills rather than endorsing unsanctioned strikes. British trade unions maintained that local employees were being denied employment opportunities.

The industrial action extended to additional sites across the UK: on 30 January, about 700 staff at Scotland's Grangemouth Oil Refinery, 50 workers at Aberthaw Power Station, and 400 employees at ICI Wilton, Teesside, joined the strike, along with personnel at BP Saltend and Hull.

Following negotiations between Total and the GMB union, facilitated by Acas, an agreement reached on 5 February created 102 new positions for British workers alongside IREM’s hires; previous proposals offering fewer jobs had been declined. An Acas report issued on 16 February confirmed that Total's employment of Italian workers did not violate labor laws.

The strike recommenced on 11 June after the dismissal of 51 subcontracted staff members. This prompted sympathy strikes at Cheshire’s Fiddlers Ferry Power Station and Aberthaw, escalating further on 18 June with walkouts at power stations including Drax, Eggborough, and Ratcliffe-on-Soar, as well as BP Saltend and BOC Scunthorpe.

June 2009 Incident

On 19 June 2009, nearly 700 construction employees were terminated at the Lindsey Oil Refinery following an unofficial strike involving around 1,200 workers over employment disagreements. This action sparked solidarity walkouts at multiple other locations, such as the Stanlow oil refinery (Ellesmere Port), Aberthaw (Cardiff), Ferrybridge power station (West Yorkshire), Staythorpe Power Station (Nottinghamshire), the Ensus facility within the Wilton chemical complex (Teesside), as well as Drax and Eggborough power stations (North Yorkshire), and Fiddler's Ferry power station (Cheshire).

Paul Kenny, who served as General Secretary of the GMB union, strongly criticized Total for what he described as victimisation and reproached the company for declining to negotiate with the union through ACAS.

Total extended an invitation to the dismissed Lindsey refinery workers to reapply by 17:00 on 22 June 2009. In response, the workers protested by burning their termination notices outside the refinery premises. Support for the strike was demonstrated by approximately 3,000 employees at other sites who also staged walkouts.

While discussions between Total and GMB officials achieved some advancement, significant obstacles remained as of 23 June. Negotiations recommenced on 25 June and ultimately resulted in an agreement to conclude the industrial dispute. The settlement provided for the reinstatement of 647 dismissed workers, alternative employment offers for 51 laid-off staff, and guarantees protecting sympathetic strikers at power stations and terminals from victimisation. On 29 June, refinery employees voted in favor of accepting this agreement.

See also

• International Transport Workers Federation v Viking Line ABP