Locked-out construction workers take the fight to BP

Protest of locked out Saltend construction workers at BP AGM in London on 14.4.11, photo Sarah Wrack

Locked-out BP Saltend workers took their fight straight to the company's fat cats at BP's AGM in London Docklands' Excel Centre yesterday.

Shareholders big and small had to face workers from GMB and Unite from the Hull site, although behind a line of hired bouncers!

The police and security were caught out when a group of the workers broke away from the main protest outside the building and managed to enter the building.

They told the shareholders that the consortium that runs the Saltend site, with BP in a leading role, has locked them out for over a month. This is because the employer wants to break the national NAECI agreement and pick and choose who remains on the job.

As a result 430 workers haven't been paid for weeks. However, they have responded with a heroic campaign of defiance, resulting in solidarity action from other sites and the Saltend site being shutdown for a over a week.

Talks have been going on to try to resolve the dispute but the Saltend workers are adamant that this must include a guarantee that they get their jobs back.

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