MAINTENANCE workers at Fawley refinery staged a 24-hour walkout today after a bitter row over security passes escalated into strike action.
Three trade unions are in dispute with companies that employ contractors at the huge refinery, which processes 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
It follows at least two incidents in which members of staff were stripped of their site passes, which meant they automatically lost their jobs.
The passes were taken away by the refinery's owner, Esso ExxonMobil, but unions say their dispute is with the companies that hire the contractors.
The unions involved in the dispute are Amicus, the GMB and the TGWU.
Mick Benfield, representing Amicus said: "It's all about the failure of the contract companies to protect the employees' terms and conditions in the face of action taken by Esso."
Esso ExxonMobil says site passes were withdrawn after staff failed to comply with the refinery's stringent safety standards. But Mr Benfield claimed that at least one of the cases had nothing to do with safety.
Today's walkout, which involved about 200 contractors, is due to end at 6am tomorrow.
A spokesman for the contract companies was unavailable for comment.
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