UK The sacking of 647 striking workers at an oil refinery has sparked a wave of sympathy walk-outs across England and Wales and raised the stakes in a long-running battle between employers and workers in the construction industry.
Subcontractors at Total’s Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire fired the workers after they refused to end a week’s unofficial stoppage over redundancies. The dispute began when 51 people lost their jobs last week, a move the strikers claim broke a local agreement to offer them other jobs on site. Total says there is no agreement.
