Immigration call after LNG strike

The company says it has been unable to find skilled local labour

European election candidates in Wales have reacted to unofficial strikes at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Pembrokeshire over foreign labour.

There have been walkouts at other plants in support of 200 pickets at South Hook LNG in Milford Haven.

UKIP said limiting immigration would help, but the Tories and Plaid said blocking foreign workers was no answer. The Lib Dems want parity for all.

Labour said "extremists" must not be allowed to benefit from hard times.

The Conservatives said they understood the worries but blocking foreign workers or contracts would benefit no-one.

Dr Kay Swinburne, the Welsh Conservatives lead candidate in the 4 June poll, said her party understood "people are especially worried about their jobs at this time".

"Unemployment is now over 2m and the rate in Wales is higher than any other nation of the UK," she said.

She said she hoped the dispute could be resolved "as soon as possible".

But Dr Swinburne warned: "It is in no-one's interest to stop foreign workers or companies winning contracts here, just as it wouldn't be in our interest if other countries stopped using British firms or British workers".

Welsh Liberal Democrat lead European candidate Alan Butt Philip said it was "understandable that Welsh workers feel aggrieved when they see jobs going to workers from other parts of Europe" and they should complain" if the "spirit of European law" was being broken by an employer.

He said it was vital that local workers were "trained appropriately and allowed to compete with overseas workers on a level playing field, be that on pay, conditions or skills."

But he urged people to "step back from the calls for British jobs for British workers and consider our interdependence with European and global economies.

"For example, the LNG terminal in Milford Haven is owned by a consortia of multinational companies, including Petronas, who have invested in the Wales," he said.

However, UKIP said it alone was addressing workers concerns about jobs and pay being undermined by east Europeans.

'On the washing line'

Workers at Aberthaw Power Station in the Vale of Glamorgan were considering further action after walking out in sympathy with the Pembrokeshire workers on Tuesday.

Speaking from Aberthaw, UKIP European election candidate David Bevan told the BBC News website that workers there were in "exactly the same position" and were "very worried about their jobs and their pay because they're being undermined by east European workers".

"Their union bosses are pushing for more Europe, so that's no help, Labour and Conservatives, Lib Dems - they're no help," he said.

"The only party that's really saying what they want to hear about limiting immigration is UKIP."

Mr Bevan said the workers were "delighted" to see him "because they're just hanging out on the washing line, nobody's representing their fears".

He insisted that he was not expressing racist views, saying it was about "space and jobs not race".

He added that there was not room for the UK to "take in everybody".

Plaid Cymru MEP and candidate Jill Evans emphasised the issue was not "about stopping foreign workers" but "a matter about honouring agreements between industry and the unions".

"Today we have pledged for a strengthening of laws on contract workers employed in other EU countries and equal rights for all workers these measures would help resolve these situations," she said.

"It is typical of far-right parties to exploit any conflict within our society to further their own divisive ends.

"I'm sure the unions won't be taken in by their rhetoric and neither should anyone else.

"My colleague, local Plaid AM Nerys Evans, is contacting the company and unions to ask for their views on the suggestion that an agreement to try and find local workers before looking further a field has not been honoured," Ms Evans added.

'Extremists'

Labour European election candidate Lisa Stevens stressed she could "understand the anger and depth of feeling" of Welsh workers "especially during an economic downturn".

"Welsh Labour at all levels sought to bring employers together with workers to reach a negotiated settlement," she said.

Responding to UKIP's comments on immigration, Ms Stevens added "we must not let the extremists take advantage of hard times".