Les Bayliss: "We hope that the lessons learned at Lindsey are not forgotten"

Unite and GMB members at the Lindsey oil refinery voted to accept a deal that will see them return to work after a bitter jobs dispute.

At a meeting at the North Lincolnshire site, unions recommended that workers back a deal thrashed out last week.
It will see 647 workers sacked for taking unofficial strike action get their jobs back an unprecedented victory.
Total said it was pleased the workers had voted to return.

The row had led to a number of sympathy strikes across Britain, with thousands of workers walking out and the wider significance of the strike cannot be ignored.

Les Bayliss Unite's assistant general secretary, said the decision showed "just how much can be achieved through constructive negotiations. We hope that the lessons learned at Lindsey are not forgotten. As the biggest union in construction we look forward to a new chapter of industrial relations in construction. I hope the employers do too."

Les Bayliss said his union would have accepted nothing less than full reinstatement of the workers. "The agreement also means that a Unite official has been appointed to represent Lindsey workers on a full-time basis until the end of the project" said Mr. Bayliss.

The BBC commented: "This was a dispute which ran outside the law and still succeeded. The strikers did not wait for a ballot to walk out, nor did they observe the legal obligation to notify the employers of their withdrawal of labour. Instead they just downed tools and left, to be rapidly followed by colleagues at other sites around the UK who also went on strike in sympathy, taking secondary action, which may well have been outside the law as well".