It has been hard to miss the coverage of Grangemouth petro-chemical works in the past few days. From a parochial local matter, the affair has been escalated into the national headlines as an example of union intransigence costing workers jobs. The origins of the dispute lie with union perception and reaction to the victimisation of a member, an affair going back to the Labour Party and the Falkirk candidate selection conflict.
Ineos alone chose to up the ante, threatening closure unless the entire workforce agreed to drastic cuts in terms and conditions (including the closure of the final salary pension scheme), a no strike agreement and as a last resort attempting to cut the union out by going directly to the workforce. This can best be described as blackmail, at worst as extortion.
Gregor Gall
takes stock of the dispute at Ineos oil refinery in Grangemouth, Scotland, and finds that the belligerent stance of the company is not an isolated case of anti union management behaviour but reflects a growing trend of ’put up or shut up’ by bosses citing UNISON’s dispute with the NHS employers over ambulance workers pay and conditions as one of several current examples.
