Effort to avert refinery strike

Plant workers at Grangemouth will walk out for 48 hours from Sunday Q&A: Grangemouth dispute

An independent expert has been brought in to try to avert a two-day strike by workers at the Grangemouth refinery.

Workers belonging to Unite will begin strike action on Sunday over plans by the refinery's operator, Ineos, to change the company's pension scheme.

The Scottish Government said the president of the Faculty of Actuaries, Stewart Ritchie, would carry out a study into the management changes.

If agreed by both parties, the study would be financed by the government.

Production is expected to be hit as the first of the crude oil units is closed in a phased shutdown of the refinery, one of only nine in the UK.

The plant supplies the whole of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England.

Scottish Ministers said Mr Ritchie, formerly of the Association of British Insurers and the National Association of Pension Funds, would conduct the study into the pension plans in a bid to clarify the issues which are in dispute.

The report would be non-binding and if agreement were not reached at the end of a new consultation process, industrial action could ensue.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said it was "not acceptable" for the dispute to go unresolved.

He said: "This is a matter that must be solved by constructive dialogue involving both parties.

"As president of the Faculty of Actuaries, Stewart Ritchie is in a unique position to provide the distinguished, independent and quality advice needed to help the parties concerned to find a resolution to these issues.

"Such independent expertise will clarify the situation and should ensure both parties reach the amicable solution which I am convinced is possible without the disruption that any potential strike action may cause."

Mr Swinney said the study would be available to both parties by the end of May.

Operators have begun a scaled shutdown of the plant in anticipation of a two-day strike on 27 and 28 April by Unite union members.

The company has warned that a strike would mean "chaos" for fuel supplies.

However, the union said Ineos was "scaremongering" over the impact of the strike.

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