A whole bunch of refinery staff down instruments over security considerations in Fife – Auto Republish

Unite claims ExxonMobil and contractors failing in ‘authorized responsibility’ to guard and pay staff

Round 200 members of Unite the union had withdrawn their labour over well being and security considerations at ExxonMobil’s petrochemical plant in Mossmorran, the union reported on 17 August.

Unite mentioned staff downed instruments on Tuesday (15 August) over well being and security warning alerts and procedures not being in full working operation throughout the plant and the workforce not being knowledgeable of this, or any procedures put in place to guard them.

The commerce union mentioned it had obtained reviews from staff citing repeated examples over a yr that alarm methods should not working in areas on the petrochemical plant and staff not being notified. That is legally required within the occasion of any leakages, blasts or publicity to hazardous supplies and chemical compounds on the plant.

Unite’s members had due to this fact withdrawn their labour beneath the phrases of UK laws, Employment Rights Act 1996 Part 44 and 100. The laws states that staff have the ‘proper’ to withdraw from, and to refuse to return to a office that’s unsafe, with out being topic to any detriment together with the lack of wages.

“ExxonMobil and the contractors are to this point, refusing to pay the employees following the withdrawal of labour beneath the laws’s phrases.”

Unite basic secretary Sharon Graham mentioned: “Unite will robustly defend the authorized proper of our members to withdraw their labour over well being and security considerations at ExxonMobil’s Mossmorran plant. It’s utterly unacceptable that the corporate and the varied contractors on web site are refusing to pay our members their wages. This can be a authorized responsibility and never open to interpretation. Our members will probably be receiving their union’s unflinching assist.”

Unite’s members at ExxonMobil’s plant are employed on building engineering upkeep contracts and they’re break up between totally different contractors on the plant: Altrad, Bilfinger, and Kaefer.

The commerce union was additional calling on the Well being and Security Govt to instantly examine. There have been numerous recorded incidents on the plant over security, the danger of air pollution and environmental injury.

Bob MacGregor, Unite industrial officer, added: “Unite’s members working for Altrad, Bilfinger, and Kaefer on the Mossmorran plant are rightly livid at probably being uncovered to harmful chemical compounds attributable to failings within the plant’s security procedures.”

“So as to add insult to damage, ExxonMobil and the contractors are refusing to pay the wages of the employees following the withdrawal of labour on well being and security grounds. This isn’t an remoted incident, these security breaches and failings have been ongoing for round a yr and nothing to this point has been resolved.”

“That’s why Unite is asking for the Well being and Security Govt to urgently intervene because of the seriousness of the claims, and the chequered historical past of the plant.”