Esso strike threat
Socialist Press1980 1980-03-12Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 11 →
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Maintenance workers at the huge Esso-Fawley oil refinery near Southampton, last week threatened strike action against management plans to axe jobs and reduce safety standards at the complex. • The employer has proposed withdrawing full-time safety cover at night (from an industrial process that operates 24 hours each day, seven days a week), and partially replacing it with an emergency "call-out" system that requires workers to travel from their homes in the event of any disaster at the plant.
Safety cover
At the centre of the cutbacks are 25 membe rs of the EETPU who operate thi : present safety cover system, in e xistence since the refinery. started One electrician revealed that major accidents had been averted in the past only because workers were "in situ" in a few minutes while another claimed the refinery could be turned into a potential fireball of 'Flixborough' dimensions.
Meanwhile, union officials are still negotiating with the employer over the exact form of the new, more hazardous working conditions.
One of the largest in Western Europe, Fawley refines within the region of 458,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
What makes this more dangerous to the working class in the area is that adjacent to the refinery are two large chemical complexes. A major explosion in Fawley would make Flixborough a damp squib in comparison.