Refinery strikers agree deal over foreign workers

Striking refinery workers could be on their way back to work after unions backed a revised offer over foreign labour from employers this afternoon.

Workers earlier rejected plans to offer 60 out of the 200 disputed jobs at Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire to UK workers.

But BBC sources at the site said they now understand those jobs would be new, and no foreign workers would lose their post as a result of the dispute.

The revised offer was put to a second mass meeting at the refinery today and early indications are that it is agreeable to the union.

The final number of jobs on offer for British workers is expected to be about 100.

Full details, plus a recommendation from the unions to return to work, are expected to be confirmed at another mass meeting on Thursday morning.

Unions feared that any deal that put foreign workers out of a job would have led to a row about protectionism.