Saltend: Vivergo Fuels dispute update

Solidarity Demonstration for Saltend workers

TALKS ARE TAKING PLACE at ACAS (the arbitration service) today to try and find a solution to the dispute at the Vivergo Fuels construction site at Saltend.

The engineering construction workforce at Saltend was employed by a range of contractors under a National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry. Redhall Engineering Solutions Ltd was awarded the contract for mechanical piping but had that contract terminated by Vivergo Fuels.

Vivergo and Redhall are in dispute over who is legally responsible for the displaced workforce.

The GMB union has started a hardship fund for the workers and say that they will "bring the injustice of this situation and the workers protest to a wider audience of public and civil institutions." Nationally Shop Stewards (site-based union organisers) are meeting to discuss the "deterioration in industrial relations in the industry" resulting from this dispute.

If the meeting today does not deliver a mutually acceptable solution then there is a strong possibility that the dispute will escalate with protests continuing at Saltend.