Hundreds of Shell tanker drivers strike over pay

HUNDREDS of Shell tanker drivers have begun a four-day strike today at the Stanlow Oil Refinery in Ellesmere Port in a row over pay.

The strike will affect one in 10 of Britain's 9,500 filling stations, but the Government and the transport industries have urged motorists not to panic-buy petrol.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has not ruled out calling in the Army to keep fuel flowing, saying the Government was willing to do "everything we can" to stop pumps running dry.

The men's union Unite says drivers from other companies, including BP, have refused to cross picket lines.

The drivers, who work for two companies delivering fuel to Shell forecourts, have picketed some oil depots. So far, the strike's impact has been limited.

Union officials said the latest strike dates were a "legal formality". Talks aimed at stopping the current strike ended when unions rejected a pay offer.

Shell runs one in 10 of the country's fuel stations and has said some of its stations could run out of fuel. Officials have urged drivers not to panic.

The two haulage firms, Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport, say unions rejected a pay offer which would take the drivers' average salary to £41,500 by January 2009.

"We wanted to resume further talks and are extremely disappointed the union plans to strike again so quickly," said Bernie Holloway from Hoyer UK, which is contracted by Shell to deliver fuel.

``We have got a problem here where a greedy oil company is making 1.5 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) each and every month,'' Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, a union representing 641 drivers, told the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Today radio program. ``This is not a case of greedy workers; this dispute will carry on until Shell come to the table. We have been up most of the night trying to come to an agreement.''

The union says drivers earn the same now for a 48-hour working week as they got for a 37-hour week in 1992, following Shell's decision to subcontract deliveries rather than employ the drivers directly.