Marathon workers protest

Some 40 oil rig workers staged a protest outside the headquarters of Marathon Petroleum in Cork yesterday, claiming that the company had broken a 30-year practice of employing Irish workers on rigs in Irish waters. According to Mr Brian O'Connell of SIPTU offshore workers branch, Marathon Petroleum has broken with established practice by bringing the Globar Arctic III rig to the Kinsale Gas Field and staffing it with non-nationals.