Oil giant Total SACKS 900 people

Ricochet J · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:01

BBC said:
Total sacks 900 oil plant workers

Nearly 900 workers constructing a new plant at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire have been sacked, following unofficial strike action.

If only TfL did this during the tube strikes.

Dolph · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:03

Top stuff, and exactly how companies should be dealing with wildcat strike action.

Whether it should apply to the Tube strikes, which were balloted and notified is somewhat of a different matter. I'd much prefer to just let the courts decide whether the Union or TfL should be liable for the all the consequential damages of their strike action

Ricochet J · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:05

The damages local businesses had were huge. You can't just cut a major transport link in what is now the world's busiest fanancial centre, especially during a recession.

Although it is sad, I welcome Total's decision.

jamoor · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:07

Dolph said:
Top stuff, and exactly how companies should be dealing with wildcat strike action.

Whether it should apply to the Tube strikes, which were balloted and notified is somewhat of a different matter. I'd much prefer to just let the courts decide whether the Union or TfL should be liable for the all the consequential damages of their strike action

Totally agree (pun intended

)

I still don't understand strikes, if you don't like the people you're working for, or the conditions they offer, then the job market is open and you can find somewhere else.

There probabbly are thousands of people right now that would kill to have those 900 jobs.

Good on Total.

panthro · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:07

Dolph said:
Top stuff, and exactly how companies should be dealing with wildcat strike action.

Whether it should apply to the Tube strikes, which were balloted and notified is somewhat of a different matter. I'd much prefer to just let the courts decide whether the Union or TfL should be liable for the all the consequential damages of their strike action

Agreed. They got exactly what was coming to them for their actions.

mjt · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:08

good, serves them right for not working. made it easier for the management to choose who to fire

Dolph · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:08

Ricochet J said:
What about the damage local businesses had Dolph? You can't just cut a major transport link in what is now the world's busiest fanancial centre, especially during a recession.

Although it is sad, I welcome Total's decision.

Those are the damages I'm talking about. The estimated costs of a tube strike are approx £100m a day. If the union has not been reasonable in calling the strike and is just bullying, they should be liable for those costs. Likewise if TfL are found to have behaved unreasonably when judged by an independant party on a reasonable test, then they should be liable. If they are both being unreasonable, then liability should be split.

TheMagicPirate · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:08

Dolph said:
Top stuff, and exactly how companies should be dealing with wildcat strike action.

I agree.

According to the link the people laid off were only laid off because the phase the were doing was finished too.

Fenris · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:10

Too right, I wish more companies were willing to do this.

antijoke · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:11

Dolph said:
Top stuff, and exactly how companies should be dealing with wildcat strike action.

+1

wordy · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:13

I wonder if the 51 workers who were sacked to start with were aware that they would lose their jobs after the construction was complete?

[TW]Fox · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:14

wordy said:
I wonder if the 51 workers who were sacked to start with were aware that they would lose their jobs after the construction was complete?

Thats generally how projects work, yes?

V4NT0M · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:15

Where do I apply to be a scab

jamief · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:15

wordy said:
I wonder if the 51 workers who were sacked to start with were aware that they would lose their jobs after the construction was complete?

You would think so. Even if they weren't aware, do you expect their employers to pay them when there is no work?

Cosimo · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:16

Skyfall said:
Where do I apply to be a scab

Just cross the picket line.

jamief · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:18

Skyfall said:
Where do I apply to be a scab

A scab? You mean someone actually doing the job they are being paid to do?

V4NT0M · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:19

jamief said:
A scab? You mean someone actually doing the job they are being paid to do?

Yea, a scab.

mattheman · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:19

You support it, they start cutting workers for foreign ones, until its at your door step most people in this country dont care, then when it hits them its too late. theres a lot more to it than what the BBC are reporting.

panthro · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:19

wordy said:
I wonder if the 51 workers who were sacked to start with were aware that they would lose their jobs after the construction was complete?

Of course they did, they were contractors. Generally O&G contractors get served with a weeks notice. Unless they were fixed term, even then they can still get demobilised early and there will be clauses in their contracts stating this.

scorza · 19 Jun 2009 at 10:20

Looks to me like there are catastrophic management failings at that plant. After getting their employees backs up by laying off workers to replace them with cheap foreign labour they then go back on an assurance that there won't be any redundancies at the site - utter /facepalm. Though I don't have a problem with sacking wildcat strikers it seems from the outside that all these problems could have been avoided through making sensible management decisions in the first place, and now it's going to cost them a lot of money. If I was a Total shareholder I would be furious!