UK Unions Press For Changes To Law On Foreign Jobs

Unions argue that Britons are losing out because of a botched interpretation of an EU directive into British law.

Trades unions asked the British government on Tuesday to tighten the law on the use of foreign workers after Britons fearing job losses staged a series of protests at energy plants across the country.

Hundreds of contractors at the Lindsey oil refinery in eastern England, owned by France's Total, walked out again on Tuesday. Six hundred contractors at a plant owned by ConocoPhillips on the east coast also downed tools.

British workers are angry that Italian and Portuguese workers have been brought in to build a new unit at Lindsey after Total awarded the contract to an Italian company.

The week-long dispute has prompted a series of walkouts in sympathy at power plants across the country and triggered a debate on European laws on labour mobility as unemployment in recession-hit Britain surges towards two million.

The strikes have not disrupted energy supplies.

Unions argue that Britons are losing out because of a botched interpretation of an EU directive into British law.

"As the interpretation of the law now stands it is possible for overseas companies to refuse to employ UK nationals on projects in the UK," the GMB union, which represents 600,000 workers, said in a statement.

"The UK government should take the advice of the EU Parliament and press the EU Commission to correct this interpretation," it said.

The labour unrest in Britain follows related economic protests in Greece, Russia, France and China, prompting analysts to caution about more widespread economic nationalism.

It has frayed ties between the unions and the Labour government led by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The unions are traditionally the main financial backers of Labour.

Brown, the former finance minister who replaced Tony Blair in 2007, faces a general election by mid-2010 and Labour is trailing the opposition Conservatives by a wide margin.

Brown has said the strikes were the wrong course of action and the government has backed a statement from Total which said it does not discriminate against British workers.

Total and union representatives were meeting on Tuesday for talks brokered by mediation service Acas.