SOLIDARITY WITH LINDSEY OIL REFINERY WORKERS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: july/august 2009 :: RMTnews 15 Conference heard Keith Gibson from the Lindsey Oil Refinery joint strike committee describe the background to the national dispute which led to a stunning victory for the workforce. “This dispute was not about racism it was about defending pay, working conditions and a national agreement for the engineering and construction industry. “Companies were bringing Polish, Italian, Spanish and Portugese workers on less money to break the agreement,” he said. He said that shop stewards had demanded that these workers should be on agreed pay rates and local unemployed should be hired. “They responded that they were not going to abide by the agreement or employ local labour,” he said. Within hours a call for unofficial action led to a thousand workers on the picket line and thousands of others walked out across the country. “Within days the BNP turned up and the lads on the picket lines told them in no uncertain terms that they were not welcome. “They were told they have nothing to do with the struggles of working people,” said Keith who as the lead candidate for No2EU:Yes to Democracy in the euro elections. He said that the background of the dispute was the banking crisis where there are billions of pounds being poured away to bail out a banking system in crisis. “We can also see that there are going to be three million working class people unemployed by the end of the year. “Workers are looking at those particular issues and how the bosses react in terms of crisis. “The chief executive of Network Rail Ian Croucher is defending his salary of £539,000 and that’s boosted up to £1.24 million pounds. “Compare this to workers in all the industries that are facing attacks on pay and conditions,” Keith said. He said that the anti-trade union laws were still restricting the right of union to defend their members. “We are in an historic period and we have got to rebuild our trade unions. “The bosses want to make workers pay and we need to defend the right to work and a decent standard of living,” he said to a standing ovation. SOLIDARITY WITH LINDSEY OIL REFINERY WORKERS SOLIDARITY: Lindsey oil refinery worker Keith Gibson addresses Olympic site workers picket in East London demanding ‘Fair Employment Rights for All’ with Bob Crow