Strike deal accepted by oil refinery workers

Work is set to restart on the Total oil refinery site in Lincolnshire after striking workers accepted a deal that will see 102 jobs offered to British workers.

Unions and management had been negotiating over a deal following a week of wildcat strikes over the employment of exclusively Italian labour on the oil refinery site.

The union Unite claimed that IREM, an Italian subcontractor, had not permitted British workers to apply for jobs and had given work instead to labourers from its native country.

Workers voted this morning to accept the deal, which will see British workers given 102 of the 195 construction jobs on the contract. Union sources said approval was unanimous.

Bernard McAuley, Unite’s chief negotiator, told the Guardian: "We've made sure that no Italians have been made redundant, we've got jobs for 102 British people and we've also made sure that Fabio Capello stays as England manager.”

But there was already signs that wildcat strikes would spread to other sites where foreign subcontractors are employing their own labourers. An RWE npower refinery in Staythorpe, Nottinghamshire is reportedly next on the unions’ list.