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Grangemouth site shutdown goes ahead

Refinery to close despite staff cancelling strike

Scotland's critical Grangemouth oil refinery will remain closed until at least Tuesday, its owners said yesterday - despite the site's workforce calling off a looming two-day strike.

The Grangemouth oil refinery's workforce had been poised to walk out from Sunday over owner Ineos's treatment of Unite convener Stevie Deans.

Meanwhile the company had entered into a second bout of negotiations overnight, only to break off the talks at 5am yesterday morning.

But the Unite union representing the workers said they were calling off all industrial action - including an existing work to rule and overtime ban - for fear of jeopardising the plant's production.

Unite's Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty slammed the company's actions as "utterly reprehensible."

The union had offered to call off its industrial action in return for further negotiations over layoffs, pay cuts and threats to close the refinery entirely by 2015, he said - with a guarantee of no strikes during the negotiations.

But Ineos had demanded the union promise not to strike at all - whatever the outcome of the negotiations.

Mr Rafferty said the company had also refused its offer of a skeleton crew to keep the plant on "hot standby."

The cold shutdown begun earlier in the week risked damaging the plant's machinery and prolonging the drop in Scotland's fuel supply as engineers took days to safely return the crucial Forties pipeline to service.

"As a result, Unite will now call off all industrial action with immediate effect in order to protect this national asset from the scandalous behaviour of its owner," said Mr Rafferty.

An Ineos spokesman confirmed the company's terms of negotiation but dismissed Mr Rafferty's comments, saying the union had withdrawn its offer of safety cover.

Nor would the company return to negotiations through arbitration agency Acas, he said: management would deliver a proposal directly to the workforce today.

"We've come to the end with Acas," he said.

Mr Deans had privately said he was willing to wait out Ineos's investigation rather than see the company risk the refinery's safety record with a "reckless" full shutdown.

A source at the refinery told the Morning Star: "It's almost like Ineos is determined to take the chance of destroying the plant."

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