900 Contract Workers at UK Total Refinery Laid Off

Total SA said the contracts of about 900 workers at its Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire will be terminated after they staged unofficial strike action this week, prompting rash of protests at other energy plants across the country. "Total can confirm, our contractors now started process of ending the current employment contracts for their workforce on the HDS-3 construction project," it said. The workers can reapply for their jobs til Monday afternoon. Workers at other U.K. energy plants walked off the job in solidarity with their Lindsey colleagues. Royal Dutch Shell said 450 maintenance & construction contractors at its Stanlow refinery in Cheshire staged an unofficial walkout. About 360 contract workers at 2 of RWE AG's UK power stations downed their tools, RWE npower said. But, no RWE npower staff are involved & operations at the Aberthaw power station in Wales & Didcot A power plant in England are unaffected. A number of workers at British Energy's Hinkley Point B nuclear-power station also walked out, but operations at the site are continuing as normal, according to a British Energy spokeswoman, the UK nuclear unit of France's Electricite de France. Meanwhile, contractors from EDF Energy's Cottam plant in northeast England returned to work, a spokeswoman said. At E.ON's Ratfliffe power plant in NE England, about 150 contractors for routine maintenance work were out for a 2nd day following a walkout Thursday, said a spokeswoman from its UK.subsidiary E.ON UK. Meanwhile, contractors from EDF Energy's Cottam plant in northeast England = returned to work, a spokeswoman said. At the UK prime minister's daily briefing, a Downing Street spokesman criticized the unofficial action & urged workers at Lindsey to reapply for their jobs & start talks with bosses. "The Government's view is unofficial strike action and demonstrations are never the right response to industrial relations problems," he said. The spokesman added while the dispute was principally a matter between companies & workers, the gov't. hoped the issue would be resolved as quickly as possible. "GMB condemns action of Total," said the general-secretary of the GMB union. "Total has for a full week refused to meet the union to resolve the problems thru Advisory Conciliation & Arbitration Service." He warned discontent over the way it handled the negotiations can see the unofficial strikes & protests spread further. "It seems pretty obvious there is a mass case of victimization taking place here," he said. Louise Owen, spokesman for labor conciliatory service ACAS, said joint talks will be held Friday between Total, GMB union & Unite union. Total said the main contract company Jacobs Engineering Group informed workers of a decision to terminate their contracts. The 200,000-barrels-a-day refinery meanwhile continues to operate as normal, it said. The dispute at Lindsey started a week ago, after Total told 65 workers the hydro-desulfurization project they were working on was close to completion, putting jobs in doubt. It