Conoco oil drivers plan 24-hour strike
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• by Miles BrIgnall Oil tanker drivers at Conoco are set to disrupt fuel deliveries to hundreds of Jet garages across the country next week in protest at plans to outsource the fuel distribution work to P&O Trans European.
The 24-hour strike will start at 04:00hrs next Tuesday to 06:00hrs on Wednesday and is expected to affect fuel deliveries to Jet garages from Conoco depots at Immingham, Jarrow, Plymouth, Kingsbury (West Midlands) and Belfast. An overwhelming 102 of the 130 drivers represented by the Transport and General Workers Union voted for the action, The drivers fear that they will lose out financially if the move to P&O goes ahead. Danny Bryan, T&G National Secretary for Transport, says the vote gives a clear signal to Conoco that the assurances they have given so far about the future funding of pensions, share option schemes and profit-related pay are insufficient. "When Conoco first said to us that they intended to contract out our members' jobs and that the decision was not negotiable," says Bryan, "we warned them that it would be an unpopular move which could lead to a difficult situation.
"We know from what the company has told us that to proceed down this line of outsourcing will cost them more than keeping the work in-house," he continues.
Conoco's general manager of marketing, Dave Blakemore, says that the company has contingency plans in place to prevent any disruption to fuel supplies.
He adds that the company is disappointed by the move which comes "while negotiations regarding the future of the company's road tanker operation are still under way".