Thousands of British workers joined nationwide protests against the use of foreign-contracted labour today saying Britons were losing out at a time of rising unemployment and economic recession.
About 900 contractors at the Sellafield nuclear processing plant in northern England walked off the job, joining more than 1,000 others in the fuel and energy industries who have carried out wildcat strikes over foreign labour in recent days.
The work stoppages began when British workers at the Lindsey refinery in eastern England, owned by French oil giant Total, launched a protest against the use of Italian and Portuguese contractors on a major construction project.
Total has said the foreign workers were employed according to European and British law and has said that no British workers were discriminated against in the hiring process. It is holding talks with unions and negotiators to try to resolve the issue.
While British unions have not called for the strikes, the industrial action appears to be spreading at a time of deepening economic uncertainty, with Internet forums encouraging workers to carry out wildcat sympathy work stoppages.
Despite the interruptions, Britain's National Grid said there had been no impact on gas or electricity supplies.
The widening action is a reflection of growing worker unease as Britain's economy moves deeper into recession and unemployment climbs. Almost two million Britons are now jobless, with the unemployment rate over 6 per cent and rising.
Organisers denied the sympathy strikes were anti-foreign, saying they wanted to create a level playing field for all.
"We are not trying to stop foreign labour coming to Britain, we are trying to stop them coming in and being paid less than we are and under-cutting us," Bill Eilbeck, a union organiser at the Sellafield plant, told reporters.
"We are really asking for equal rights, not just for us but for the foreign workers as well. If the government do not listen to us the situation could escalate even further and you will be seeing more strikes, which we do not want to happen."
The labour unrest in Britain follows economic protests in Greece, Russia, France and China, prompting analysts to caution about more widespread economic nationalism.
