Workers at Stanlow oil refinery are considering industrial action over a ‘new heavy-handed management style’ warning which would hit jet fuel supplies to Liverpool and Manchester airports.

Essar, which runs the Ellesmere Port plant, is ‘disappointed’ and ‘surprised’ by the union statement and hopes ‘good employee relations’ will continue.

Unite said the recent appointment of a senior executive had led to ‘a gigantic deterioration’ in industrial relations and prompted the union’s 530 members to vote unanimously earlier this week to hold a consultative ballot to authorise a full-scale industrial action ballot.

Stanlow Oil Refinery
Stanlow Oil Refinery

The union warns industrial action this could hit jet fuel supplies to Liverpool and Manchester airports during the peak holiday season, as the Ellesmere Port site produces an estimated 16 per cent of the UK’s transport fuels.

Unite regional officer Patrick Coyne said: “Previously excellent industrial relations have been seriously eroded with the recent appointment of a senior executive who, we say, has ridden roughshod over an agreement we signed just in March.

“He has also refused to meet our convenors to discusses legitimate employment issues and such has been the hostility displayed that our members have voted to hold a consultative ballot to see if they wish to proceed to an industrial action ballot that could include strike action.

“If there were industrial action, Liverpool and Manchester airports could be hit, among other customers, as Stanlow is a major producer of the country’s transport fuels.”

Stanlow skyline by The Old Brit
Stanlow skyline by The Old Brit

Stanlow is owned by Essar Oil (UK) Ltd and Unite has written to the company’s chief executive Srinivasalu Thangapandian saying industrial relations are ‘deteriorating at a gigantic pace’.

Patrick Coyne added: “Unite, as a modern and progressive union, wants to work in partnership with Essar to see Stanlow continues as the very profitable enterprise it already is, and to ensure it has a long term and secure future.

“We hope Essar now realises it is taking the wrong path with this heavy-handed approach and can return to the type of partnership with Unite that has seen Stanlow become one of the top refineries in the UK and Europe.”

Unite members include process operators, maintenance technicians, production team leaders and maintenance planners. No timescale for the consultative ballot has been announced, but the result is expected before the end of June.

Essar spokesman Ian Cotton responded: “We were disappointed to read the press release issued by Unite and surprised at its contents.

“Senior Essar officials have met with their Unite counterparts on a weekly basis over the past six years to discuss issues and will continue to do so. It should also be pointed out that there has been no change to agreements in place at Stanlow.

“We have enjoyed good employee relations at Stanlow and wish to continue that.

“If there are specific issues that Unite wish to raise with the company we would urge them to do so through any of the established channels, rather than through the media. The door is always open for those discussions.”