Refinery workers in strike ballot

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Construction workers at seven UK power station and oil refinery sites are to be balloted for industrial action.

Members of Unite and GMB unions will be consulted in a row over conditions for those applying for jobs.

Among the sites to be balloted are Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria and BP Grangemouth in Stirlingshire.

It follows a dispute over job cuts at Lindsey oil refinery, Lincolnshire, which led to UK-wide walkouts. Workers there will not be balloted this time.

Members at Ineos Grangemouth, in Stirlingshire, Shell UK Stanlow in Cheshire, Staythorpe RWE in Nottinghamshire, Chevron Pembroke and Aberthaw in Vale of Glamorgan will also be balloted.

Workers' register

The unions say they want a "level playing field" for job applicants in the industry and have a list of changes they would like made to the national agreement which governs it.

The list includes a skills register for workers, a register of unemployed workers which must be used to fill vacancies and paid-for trips home.

They say the Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA), which represents employers, has rejected the demands.

"We want a level playing field to ensure all workers with the appropriate skills have equal access to work," a Unite spokesman said.

GMB members will be balloted until 1 September, with Unite papers due to be sent out next week.

'Negotiations ongoing'

ECIA managing director Michael Hockey said the current terms on pay and allowances expired after 4 January 2010 and negotiations were ongoing for the future.

He said: "ECIA member companies are fully committed to supporting the national agreement.

"The association has pledged to work with the trade unions to ensure NAECI [National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry] is the agreement of choice and the UK domestic workforce is the workforce of choice."

The parties are due to meet on 19 August, and the ECIA has called for unions to suspend the ballots.

A deal to end the dispute at the Total-run Lindsey oil refinery, which sparked walkouts across the industry, was reached at the end of June.

Workers at the refinery went on strike in early June after a sub-contractor cut jobs. Other workers at power stations and oil and gas facilities across the UK followed them.