Refinery workers head to Parliament

Workers threatened by the closure of the Lindsey oil refinery in North Lincolnshire will be taking their campaign to parliament on 3rd Sept – and are calling on Unite colleagues to join them.

The “Save Lindsey Oil Refinery” rally takes place at 11am on Wednesday 3rd September outside the Houses of Parliament, with Unite protesters and supporters gathering by the nearby George V statue on Abingdon Street.

Unite has demanded that the government intervenes to protect workers, oil supplies and the local community since the announcement was made in June that the Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery, in North Lincolnshire, had gone into administration.

The union has been organising rallies and marches in the area to highlight the impact a closure would have on jobs, oil supplies and the local community. 

These have included a rally on Thursday (21 August) at Lindsey Oil Refinery and a demonstration outside Grimsby Town Hall in July. 

A further march is happening in Cleethorpes tomorrow (Sunday 24 August). 

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The government must do everything in its power to ensure a sale and safeguard jobs. Ministers should be urging any potential buyer to purchase the site as a whole to prevent it being split into parts.
 
“The Lindsey refinery is vital national infrastructure; it provides 10 per cent of the UK’s fuel supply and is crucial to the regional economy. Its future must be secured.”

More details of the Parliamentary Rally will be released over the coming days, and you can keep up to date with the latest information on the Unite Live and Unite for a Workers Economy websites.

By Keith Hatch

Photo by Tom Heslop – Regional Digital Assistant, Unite NEYH