Fawley refinery construction engineers summarily sacked 

4 July Protesting outside Gate 1 at the massive Exxon refinery at Fawley, Southampton, twenty locked out fabrication workers began their fight after being sacked without their redundancy rights last Thursday. Their employer PTF Engineering, that had a contract for the maintenance of the site, was taken over by Hertel with all workers transferred under TUPE regulations.

Under TUPE regulations, workers were told they had been transferred to Hertel and to turn up for work. When they arrived for work they were told they weren't needed. They were sacked, with no redundancy pay and no notice, after years of service. One of the sacked workers explained: "We provide 24-hour support for Fawley, with everything on site ready to go. Hertel have no one local to do the work, so who's going to do it?" In the view of some there, this was "no accident", with Hertel and others seeking to undermine trade union terms and conditions on sites across the UK.

This is the latest battleground following recent disputes at Saltend, Staythorpe, Lindsey and elsewhere.

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Nick Chaffey