Group 233
Unit 10, page 112
The Lonsdale Fuels Company coped with the strike
Summary
The Lonsdale Fuels Company, which decided to employ foreign workers, faced with a strike of locals, who was dissatisfied with this situation. The plant could stop its production and brought it to an indefinite halt. The following short report situates the target company in its renovation plan and gives a short description of strike in Kirkby refining, negotiations of the manager of plant in UK Janet Fraser Darling and Bob Leighton – the outspoken leader of the Confederation of Petroleum Workers and solution of this problem.
Introduction
The Lonsdale Fuels Company looked at the following:
Effective strategy
The first renovated plant
Negotiating and solution
Effective strategy
The major petroleum refiner and distributor Lonsdale Fuels plc decided to reduce production and operating costs. The company has embarked on five-year plan to renovate key parts of its refining plants by introducing more cost-effective technologies and attracting cheap foreign workforce.
The first renovated plant
The first plant that was scheduled for renovation was the Kirkby refinery in the United Kingdom. The locals knew about these changes and organized the strike. They were dissatisfied with the fact that they were not offered this job. They blocked the entrance and the access to the plant and were not going to leave until they get workplaces. The manager of plant Janet Fraser Darling and Bob Leighton – the outspoken leader of the Confederation of Petroleum Workers need to find solution to this problem.
Negotiating and solution
During negotiations, the parties were trying to find a solution that would suit each of them. Janet and Bob had strong arguments and instruments of pressure and to avoid bad consequences they reached a compromise. The manager promised to employ 50 per cent of local workers. Bob was satisfied with this decision and the strike was over.