Unions and executives at the Grangemouth oil refinery are on the brink of a deal which could end the long-running dispute over pensions which saw the refinery shut down this week and widespread fuel shortages in Scotland.
The proposals were thrashed out during talks in London between senior executives at Ineos, the plant's owners, and the Unite trade union, whose members went on strike for 48 hours on Sunday in protest at plans to radically overhaul their pensions.
The strike ended at 6am yesterday, but forced Ineos to shut Grangemouth and led BP to close a North Sea oil platform. The lost production has lead to widespread fuel shortages in Scotland, emergency shipments of 65,000 tonnes of diesel and helped push world oil prices to a record $120 (£61) a barrel.
In a brief joint statement described last night by one source as a "breakthrough", the company's founder, Jim Ratcliffe, said he and his colleague Tom Crotty had held "constructive and meaningful" talks with the union's joint general secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley.
The meeting "ended in a proposal that will be considered by the company and the union in the coming days with a view to finding a resolution to the pensions dispute". Neither Ineos nor Unite were willing to discuss the proposal, but officials confirmed it was a "good sign" that a deal may be in sight.
Ineos and Unite have come under intense pressure from ministers in London and Edinburgh, and senior figures in the oil industry, to end the dispute. Ineos, which bought Grangemouth in 2005, wants to close a final salary pensions scheme for all new workers, claiming that is essential for a £750m modernisation programme.
On Monday night, Gordon Brown discussed the crisis with the Scottish National party leader and first minister Alex Salmond at Westminster, and said last night: "Whilst clearly the dispute has still to be resolved, this is an extremely welcome development."
The proposals were thrashed out during talks in London between senior executives at Ineos, the plant's owners, and the Unite trade union, whose members went on strike for 48 hours on Sunday in protest at plans to radically overhaul their pensions.
The strike ended at 6am yesterday, but forced Ineos to shut Grangemouth and led BP to close a North Sea oil platform. The lost production has lead to widespread fuel shortages in Scotland, emergency shipments of 65,000 tonnes of diesel and helped push world oil prices to a record $120 (£61) a barrel.
In a brief joint statement described last night by one source as a "breakthrough", the company's founder, Jim Ratcliffe, said he and his colleague Tom Crotty had held "constructive and meaningful" talks with the union's joint general secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley.
The meeting "ended in a proposal that will be considered by the company and the union in the coming days with a view to finding a resolution to the pensions dispute". Neither Ineos nor Unite were willing to discuss the proposal, but officials confirmed it was a "good sign" that a deal may be in sight.
Ineos and Unite have come under intense pressure from ministers in London and Edinburgh, and senior figures in the oil industry, to end the dispute. Ineos, which bought Grangemouth in 2005, wants to close a final salary pensions scheme for all new workers, claiming that is essential for a £750m modernisation programme.
On Monday night, Gordon Brown discussed the crisis with the Scottish National party leader and first minister Alex Salmond at Westminster, and said last night: "Whilst clearly the dispute has still to be resolved, this is an extremely welcome development."
Source: The Guardian|by Severin Carrell
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