Construction workers' sit-down safety strike

Submitted by AWL on 30 July, 2014 - 12:21 Author: Darren Bedford

Nearly 1,000 construction workers at a gas plant in Shetland staged a sit-down strike in their workplace canteen on Monday 21 July, over safety concerns.

The sit-in also raised a number of long-running grievances, including some workers being deprived travel allowance, inadequate accommodation for non-Shetland-resident workers, and Total and Petrofac’s (the companies which run the plant) refusal to pay workers for a previous 2.5 hour safety stoppage, which workers are legally entitled to undertake if working conditions are unsafe. A further sit-in on 23 July drew in greater numbers, and the companies involved have agreed to pay the 2.5 hours backpay, and look into extending travel allowance.

The strike also had the effect of cancelling a planned visit to the site by David Cameron.

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