BP Rotterdam refinery staff implement work-to-rule over pay demands

BP refinery workers in Rotterdam have started work-to-rule industrial action as part of a dispute over pay and conditions.

Workers have rejected the energy giant’s latest wage offer of a 5% rise and one-off €4,000 bonus amid soaring inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

They want a 6% pay rise, the cash bonus and access to a stock compensation plan representing an additional 3.5% pay increase, union officials told oil industry news service Quantum Commodity Intelligence.

The BP refinery, the second largest in Europe, processes about 400,000 barrels of oil annually and is an important supplier of diesel to Northern Europe.

"BP Rotterdam Refinery has responded to the ultimatum and finds the demand from the BP employees unacceptable and not in line with the market," the FNV and CNV unions said in a statement on Saturday.

"BP is sticking to its position. That is also our conclusion and we have not yet been invited to discuss our demands. Our actions, and those of the employees, will go ahead as planned," Jaap Bosma, CNV's chief negotiator, told Quantum.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com