Talks restart as UK fuel strike ends

by amyjudd | June 17, 2008 at 09:33 am

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The fuel strike in the UK has ended for now, but another is planned for later this week if the talks that are scheduled fail to settle the dispute over pay.
NowPublic coverage on the previous fuel strikes can be found here.

Talks between the two sides resumed on Tuesday. Another four-day strike will start on Friday if no deal is reached.

The stoppage, which started on Friday, led to hundreds of petrol stations across Britain running out of fuel.

Drivers have begun to return to work, raising hopes that the fuel shortages will now ease.

Edmund King, the president of the AA, told the BBC that fuel supplies would remain tight, particularly if a second strike went ahead.

"I think our worry is that it will take some time to get supplies back to normal and if they go out again on Friday, I think the effects will be a lot worse than we saw over the last few days," he said.

The pay dispute involves 600 drivers working for two haulage firms contracted to Shell.

Offer rejected

The haulage companies - Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport - said unions had rejected a pay offer that would have taken the drivers' average salary to £41,500 by January 2009.

However, the Unite union says that excluding overtime, the offer would have increased salaries from just under £32,000 to £36,000.

There is still no sign of a resolution to the strike, despite another round of negotiations.