Construction workers lobby BP

Locked-out BP Saltend workers took their fight straight to the company’s fat cats at BP’s AGM in London Docklands’ Excel Centre on 14 April.

Shareholders big and small had to face workers from the GMB and Unite unions 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 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 shut down.

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.

For updates on this dispute, see www.socialisparty.org.uk