Grangemouth

Ray Gunnion

Sensation-seeking front-page headlines have hit the Scottish public in their Sunday newspapers concerning Grangemouth oil refinery workers who are threatening to take strike action, through their union, Unite, over the bosses decision to close down their final salary pension scheme.

The company which runs the Grangemouth plant, near Falkirk, has begun shutting down its operations on safety grounds after 1200 workers voted, by 97% in favour, to take part in a two-day stoppage from 6am next Sunday, 27th April.

INEOS, the world's third largest chemical company, which took over the plant from BP in 2005, supplies Scotland and the north of England.

The union claim the company has spent the £40m pension pot it inherited from BP by buying other businesses.

The company is run by James Ratcliffe, one of the richest men in Europe, whose personal fortune according to Forbes magazine is between £1.3 - 1.8billion. As well as Grangemouth, INEOS owns another refinery, Laverna, in France.

The firm have attempted to justify this attack by claiming that a quarter of the entire money spent on employees goes towards funding the pension scheme, and wants them to pay 6% of their wages, phased over the next seven years, into the fund. Effectively a 6% wage cut.

One oil worker's reaction to this is that the workers already invest heavily into the plant with time and effort to produce the company’s wealth. It is the shareholders' job to invest in the company NOT the workers. With profits running at between one and three million pounds a day there is clearly no shortage of money to fund the pension scheme.

The existing final pension scheme is free. The workers make "no contributions" to it and they have a pension rate that is at the top end of the scale. From the employers viewpoint this situation cannot be allowed to remain in 'brave new world' of global capitalism. Workers' pensions cannot be seen to come solely from the fruits (the profit) of their labour!

The production slowdown at the Stirlingshire refinery will see a reduction in fuel reaching suppliers by Friday, which could leave Scotland with fuel shortages as the plant will take time to re-start its operations following the strike. INEOS further claim that the decision to strike will also effectively close down a large proportion of the North Sea oil production and some gas production as supplies will dry up, affecting the whole of the UK.

Unite claimed contingency measures, which could see fuel brought in from other parts of the country, may not be enough to keep garage stocks replenished and warned that major airports such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen could be affected, particularly as the Buncefield depot in the south of England has not re-opened following a huge explosion in 2005.

If Sunday's media frenzy continues through the week then the general public will be whipped into panic action and a run on the pumps will ensue, bringing about the self-fulfilling prophecies of the headlines reprinted above.

An RAC Foundation spokeswoman Sheila Ranger said: "It's going to be difficult for the motorist, but it's important we don't see panic buying and people getting aggressive. They must plan around that and make sure the impact is minimised. The workforce has a right to make a protest about its pensions."

The SNP government, predictably, has refused to come down on the side of the workers in this confrontation. Instead calling on both sides to get together to negotiate and resolve their differences to avert this action, rather than trading commentary in the media."

Workers, who produce the profit for companies like INEOS have a right to a decent pension. What is clear is that Grangemouth, Scotland’s only refinery, should be nationalised and run for the benefit of the people and not the share-holders.