UPDATE:Around 360 Contractors At 2 RWE UK Power Plants Walkout
19 June 2009 - 10:08PM
Dow Jones News
Around 360 contract workers at two of RWE AG's (RWE.XE) U.K.
power stations downed tools Friday in support of workers at oil
major Total SA's (TOT) Lindsey oil refinery in northern England,
the German utility's U.K. unit said.
However, no RWE npower staff are involved and operations at the
Aberthaw power station in Wales and Didcot A power plant in
southeast England are unaffected, RWE npower said in an e-mailed
statement.
A number of workers at British Energy's Hinkley Point B nuclear
power station also walked out this morning, but operations at the
site are continuing as normal, according to a spokeswoman for
British Energy, the U.K. nuclear unit of France's Electricite de
France SA (EDF.FR).
Around 150 contractors for routine maintenance work at E.ON AG's
(EOAN.XE) Ratcliffe power plant in northeast England are out for a
second day following a walkout Thursday, said a spokeswoman from
the company's U.K. subsidiary E.ON U.K.
Meanwhile, contractors from EDF Energy's Cottam plant in
northeast England have returned to work, a spokeswoman said.
Contractor Doosan Babcock said in a statement a "small number"
of its employees are participating in unofficial action at a small
number of sites where it operates. Doosan Babcock didn't name the
sites or say how many contract workers were involved.
Earlier Friday, Total said around 900 contract workers at its
Lindsey refinery are to have their contracts terminated after
staging unofficial strike action this week. The 200,000 barrel a
day refinery continues to operate as normal.
-By Selina Williams, Dow Jones Newswires +44 207 842 9262;
selina.williams@dowjones.com