Unite: Pension scheme needs defending

Unite, the union whose members are striking at Scotland's Grangemouth oil refinery, has insisted workers have "no choice" but industrial action to defend their pensions.

It is placing adverts in seven Scottish newspapers in an effort to win over local support for their cause, despite the strike having temporarily cut off 30 per cent of Britain's oil supplies.

"The Grangemouth workers are having to strike to defend their existing pension scheme which, despite the fact it is well-funded and in profit, their hugely rich employer, Ineos, wants to close it," Unite national officer Phil McNulty said.

"We wanted to explain directly to the people of Scotland that our members' actions are not taken lightly and are intended to get Ineos to stop its attack on their pensions and is not in any way directed at them."