Contract Workers Back At UK Energy Plants After S Hook Deal
21 May 2009 - 10:11PM
Dow Jones News
Contract workers who staged walkouts at a number of UK energy
plants this week are returning to work Thursday, following a deal
to withdraw 40 non-U.K workers from a project at South Hook
liquified natural gas terminal.
Industrial services company Hertel has agreed to withdraw the
foreign workers after U.K. workers demanded it offer the jobs to
local people.
The dispute at the South Hook LNG terminal at Milford Haven,
Wales, triggered walkouts by hundreds of contract workers across
U.K. energy facilities Tuesday and Wednesday, echoing similar
protests in January and February.
"After lengthy negotiations between the company and GMB (union)
a framework has been reached which will fully restore the written
agreement on the site regarding the use of local labor," said Paul
Kenny, GMB General Secretary on the unofficial dispute at South
Hook.
Spokeswoman for ConocoPhillips (COP) Nina Krogh-Nielsen
confirmed the contract workforce at the 221,000 barrel-a-day Humber
Refinery had also returned to work, and that previous action has
not effected refinery operations.
Wendy Goldsworthy spokeswoman for Dragon LNG terminal said in an
e-mailed statement to Dow Jones Newswires that the contract workers
were back at their posts Thursday.
-By Angela Henshall and Lananh Nguyen, Dow Jones Newswires; +44
(0)20 7842 9285; angela.henshall@dowjones.com