Running Time: 5 mins 2 secs
***UPDATE: The oil workers ended up with a victory after securing a 9.2% pay rise ***
Fawley oil refinery in Hampshire was severely disrupted on the first day of a strike by workers for contractors Trant, Veolia and Altrad, over a 2.5% pay offer – an absolute insult given that owners Exxon Mobil have just announced £17 BILLION profits.
With the rate of inflation now running at over 8% this is an absolute joke – and incredibly, none of the workers working for any of the contractors on site even get sick pay, despite Exxon Mobil employees and the entire management getting full sick pay. All the workers get is the statutory sick pay of £96 a week – which forced them into having to take annual leave when they had to self-isolate during the pandemic.
Now UNITE the Union are demanding full sick pay for all contractors, whether they’re on the SCCoP or the NAECI agreement.
The strikers were joined by scaffolders and painters, who refused to cross the picket line – and by members of the newly formed XR trade unionists group, who travelled from all over the country to show solidarity. These included two aviation workers who came all the way from Scotland – as they point out, thousands of aviation workers have lost their jobs in the pandemic and thousands more will be under threat as the climate crisis worsens, and with Fawley supplying a third of the country’s aviation fuel, this is the time to make links and protect all their future livelihoods in fighting for a just transition.
Next strike dates are on April 25 and May 6 in a dispute that needs your support – a win here will show the bosses they can’t get away with making us pay for the multiple crises that they are solely responsible for.
