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Quietly raging away up in Scotland for the past few weeks has been a major stand off between workers and INEOS, and the impact of this dispute is likely to be felt across the whole of Scotland, and Northern England for several weeks. Employees at Grangemouth have voted for Strike action, and the 2 day stoppage is due to start next Sunday. For Health & Safety reasons this will result in a complete shut down of the Grangemouth refinery. The shut down started today, and after the stoppage it is anticipated that it could take up to a month to re-start operations. Potentially leaving Scotland and Northern England without fuel for up to a month. INEOS operates the Grangemouth Fuel Refinery, which is only Crude Oil refinery plant in Scotland. Employees voted for strike action when pension dispute escalated. INEOS took over Grangemouth from BP in 2005, and secured a £40m pension pot as part of these arrangements. Unions are claiming that the pension pot has been stripped,and that INEOS is planning to close the final salary pension scheme to new entrants and reducing provision for existing members. INEOS says that the new scheme is still very generous, but that along with most other UK workers, employees will now have to make their own contributions to the scheme. The impact of this strike could be felt for weeks. Panic buying of fuel started today as these stories hit the headlines, despite urges from Fuel Retailers, and reassurances from Scots and UK Governments about contingency measures which have already been initiated. This is another worry for the Courier and Haulage industry of the UK. There are many couriers and haulage companies that do not have either the facilities or finances to buy in bulk tanks of fuel which would be necessary to keep them going through the stoppage, and the subsequent re-start period necessary to get fuel supplies back to normal.
There are guidelines to ensure that fuel purchases get prioritised to emergency services and utility companies, but this gives little comfort the Scottish Courier and Haulage companies. Stuart McKinnon of the FSB in Scotland said; "It's dreadful news for Scotland, which depends on fuel. We would urge all parties concerned to resolve this matter for the good of Scotland! (Article posted on http://www.boxby.co.uk 20th April 2008)
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