Rob Williams, Socialist Party national industrial and workplace organiser
Around 450 construction workers in Unite the Union at the Essar Stanlow oil refinery in the northwest have won a famous victory.
They were due to start industrial action over bonus payments, with an overtime ban due to start on Monday 17 July followed by a first 48-hour strike beginning on the Tuesday. However, bosses have backed down and are now paying the full bonus rate of £2.37 an hour – up from the original 80p!
The workers include scaffolders, electricians, laggers, crane drivers, welders, pipe fitters, riggers and steel erectors, and are employed by Altrad, Babcock, Bilfinger, Hutchinson Engineering, Pump Supply & Repair Group, Sarens and Wood Group.
They are covered by the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI), but bonus payments are negotiated locally.
This is on top of years of real-terms pay cuts to hourly NAECI rates, while Unite has reported that the refinery made operating profits of £253 million during the first half of the 2023 financial year. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has demanded that the energy companies be brought into public ownership to stop profiteering.
One of the workers said: “Collectively, we have shown big business that you can’t keep making millions of pounds off our backs. Without the construction workers, you are nothing. We shouldn’t have to take a stance – you should be begging us to build your oil refineries and power stations!
“Unless these oil giants realise that they need to treat construction workers with respect and pay them a living wage, then they will find that they will experience disruption and strike action – either official or unofficial. They cannot continue to make millions of pounds of profit and treat workers as just commodities.”
Last November, workers on the cracker plant shutdown won a completion bonus and a pay rise after taking strikes and an overtime ban.
In an industry infamous for blacklisting trade unionists, workers have shown that they are up for the fight to defend their agreements and their living standards.
