Jobs row spreads as Brown hits out

Feb 3 2009 By Alan Jones, The Journal

WILDCAT strikes over foreign labour escalated yesterday as talks aimed at resolving the bitter row got under way.

One union leader said the Government was "inching" towards trying to tackle the issue of overseas firms bringing an entire workforce to Britain.

Talks to review the recruitment of Italian and Portuguese workers on the £200m plant at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire, started under the auspices of conciliation service Acas.

After agreeing terms of reference, which involves studying the contract at the heart of the row, the talks were adjourned until today.

Hundreds of workers staged another protest at the site yesterday and pledged to return today. Their unofficial action was followed by walkouts by contract workers at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, Heysham nuclear power station in Lancashire and Staythorpe power station in Nottinghamshire.

Workers across Scotland and Wales who took action last week also walked out yesterday.

The Prime Minister said the unofficial strikes were "counter productive" and that Total, which runs the Lincolnshire refinery, had repeated it was not discriminating against British workers.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson told the House of Lords that Total will work with sub-contractors to ensure UK workers are considered in the same way as anyone else if vacancies arise.

Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB union said the Government was now inching towards the hub of the problem.

"It cannot be right that companies can import workforces and deny access to jobs to UK workers. We have evidence of this happening on other contracts. What the Prime Minister and Peter Mandelson are saying is not what is happening on the ground."

The ippr think-tank urged the Government to "tread carefully" in trying to protect jobs for British-born workers. It estimates as many as 1.5m Britons work in other EU countries "taking advantage of the open labour market and earning their living abroad."