Protest March in support of workers at Saltend construction site

AROUND 800 PEOPLE marched through Hull City Centre yesterday in support of workers who have been "locked out" from their jobs at the Vivergo Fuels construction site at Saltend.

Trade Union representatives from different construction sites around the country joined local supporters from the private and public sectors in Hull in a serious but buoyant protest march. Representative of the workers Keith Gibson said BP was the leading company behind the Vivergo consortium which also included DuPont and British Sugar and should be the target of action to encourage it to act on behalf of the workforce.

Vivergo Fuels have previously issued a statement saying they had cancelled the contract with Redhall Solutions Ltd who were employing the workers because the works should have been completed by February 2011.

Keith Gibson said at the workers rally yesterday "There has been a great turnout and we are here to step up the action and hit management where we can. The job's going nowhere. There is four to six months work outstanding and we want to go back and finish that job."

As well as supporting the construction workers the protest march took on a wider "anti-cuts" theme and was joined by workers from Hull City Council. One speaker from the National Shop Stewards movement called for a one-day general strike in a campaign to force the Government to back down on its austerity programme.

The dispute continues.