Fuel warning as tanker drivers to strike over pay

Stanlow is one of the largest refineries in Europe

Tanker drivers at Stanlow oil refinery are set to strike this week over what they say is a significantly lower pay offer than colleagues across the country.

Members of Unite working for Hoyer - recently rebranded as Oxalis - are set to walk out of the Ellesmere Port site from Thursday to Saturday and then from 13 to 15 June.

It will affect deliveries to garage forecourts across the North West and Scottish Borders as well as deliveries of aviation fuel, the union said.

The company said it has contingency plans so that its operations can continue.

'Second-class workers'

"Oxalis is treating its Stanlow-based drivers as second-class workers," Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said.

She said there was "absolutely no reason" why the "profitable company should not be paying these workers the same rates as pay as their colleagues based elsewhere".

Unite regional officer Paul Lomax. said: "Oxalis's clients will not be happy that their customers face fuel shortages because the company is trying to pay its Stanlow-based drivers less than their colleagues doing the same job elsewhere."

He said Oxalis needed to put forward an equal offer "or this dispute will escalate".

An Oxalis spokesperson said the company had offered drivers a 19% pay increase over two years.

"Any further increase severely compromises the viability of the operation and puts jobs at risk," they added.

The spokesperson said further talks with the union were planned and while they hoped to reach "a mutually agreeable deal", contingency plans were in place.