Refinery jobs walkout continues

The strike has entered its second day but the plant is "not affected"

Hundreds of workers walked out for a second day of unofficial industrial action over job losses at an oil refinery in North Lincolnshire.

A GMB union official said there were fears Lindsey Oil Refinery staff were being "victimised" for taking part in other walkouts earlier this year.

Protesters blocked the road outside the plant on Friday, police said.

The GMB union said it was supporting efforts to hold talks. Refinery owner Total said the plant was not affected.

The walkout was in protest at a sub-contractor shedding 51 jobs at the same time as another employer on the site was hiring workers.

The site employs 550 staff and has up to 1,000 contract workers at any time.

The staff who walked out were contract workers on a new unit at the site, which has been at the centre of a bitter row over the recruitment of non-UK workers over the past few months.

On Thursday, Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: "There are concerns that these workers may be being victimised for earlier industrial action and that these redundancies are in breach of the agreement that brought industrial peace to the site some months ago."

In a statement Total said: "We would like to make it very clear that there has never been any discrimination against any worker at the Lindsey Oil Refinery.

"This redundancy process is normal on any contract as and when different phases of the project are completed. "