Fighting
to defend the NAECI at Fawley refinery
28 June
There was a huge tail back of traffic outside the Esso Oil
Refinery at Fawley in Hampshire this yesterday morning (27
June) where Unite staged a protest in defence of the
NAECI/Blue Book agreement.
Protest by Unite members caused long tail backs
Esso's parent company Exxon Mobil is starting
a shutdown on the Cat Cracker plant but along with the main
contractor, is refusing to confirm if the work will be done
under the NAECI agreement. This will mean that workers in
the contractors who get the work could be paid less than the
national agreement with all the other negotiated terms and
conditions.
NSSN
supporters, including national chair Rob Williams, joined
with Unite officers and activists who gave out thousands of
leaflets, all determined that this won't be another case of
greedy bosses looking to threaten hard-won longstanding
agreements and slash wages not just in Fawley but
nationwide.
There
is the danger, as in Lindsey Oil Refinery in 2009 that the
employers will try and exploit workers from abroad to break
the NAECI. The workers then, led by rank and file activists
like NSSN supporter Keith Gibson were able to cut across
these divide and rule tactics.
The victory of the Sparks
in defeating the bosses BESNA contract shows that its
possible for workers to win. This new confidence was shown
with the successful reinstatement of suspended health &
safety Ratcliffe steward Jason Poulter as a result of over a
thousand workers walking out at the power station in May.
These
activists are prepared to continue the campaign to force
Esso and their contractor to adhere to NAECI.
