Sacked workers plan a public burning of dismissal letters from the Total oil company, whose £200m project has been dogged by disputes over foreign labour and alleged breaches of national agreements.
None of the 647 steel erectors, platers and welders plan to meet the company's demand that they formally reapply for their jobs as a condition of talks starting. Total was due to meet the GMB and Unite unions and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service on Friday but withdrew after four hours of preliminary discussions.
Both unions pressed for talks to start tomorrow and warned that sympathy action was likely to spread through the sector. Last week there were walkouts by builders at 17 power stations, refineries and other energy building sites from Yorkshire to south Wales.
The dispute centres on redundancy notices given to 51 contract workers who claim that they were not told of 61 new jobs being filled at the same time. The men allege victimisation because of their part in a walkout in January and February over the use of "package deal" Italian and Portuguese workers based on a barge in Grimsby docks.
Total says that it has acted according to agreed procedures and is willing to talk once the men reapply for work. Les Bayliss, assistant general secretary of Unite, said: "We will be available to sit down with the employers today to assist with negotiations. It is time for Total to get serious about seeking a resolution to the problems at Lindsey."
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, said: "We will support the locked-out and victimised workers and will demonstrate our support with peaceful and lawful protests."
A major protest is planned early on Tuesday outside the plant if the issue is not resolved.
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