The Grangemouth strikers are now back at work. They know they may have to walk out again if management stick with their plan to trash the company pension scheme.

Grangemouth refinery, with its link to the pipeline from the Forties North Sea oilfield, supplies 10% of Britain’s petroleum. Its closure triggered panic buying at the forecourts. It is reckoned that closure cost the economy (that means us, folks) £500 million a day. Since they had to start closing the plant days before the walkout, and it may not be fully operational till the end of the week, Ineos’ refusal to back down may have cost us £5 billion. That seems a high price for us to pay for management intransigence.

What’s their problem? Ineos is 75% owned by Jim Ratcliffe. Ineos is described as a chemical firm, but basically Ratcliffe is a wheeler dealer. He sounds from his entry in the ‘Sunday Times Rich List’ as if he’s got money coming out of his ears. Listed as the 25^th richest person in the land, his fortune is reckoned at £2,300 million. But hang about. The ‘Sunday Times’ thinks he was worth £3,300 million in 2007. He’s dropped a billion, poor old soul. That must explain why he wants to nick the workers’ pension pot.

Ineos is not in queer street yet. Last year it declared £370 million in profits, up 140%. Unite correctly accuses Ratcliffe of “trying to cream off profit from a cash rich company.”

Ineos is a private equity company, a new form of shark recently spotted in the capitalist sea. Because they’re not a plc, they can keep their secrets. The workers would certainly benefit from opening the books to see what the real financial situation is.

Private equity’s scam is to take over existing companies and ‘sweat the assets.’ They take over using borrowed funds. They load the company they acquire with this debt. Ineos actually owes £590 million. This does nothing to improve the plant’s performance, but allows the new owners to line their pockets. Then, after they’ve sucked the company dry, they dump it back on to the stock exchange. That is the track record of these dodgy operators. One of the prime assets to be ‘sweated’ is the workers’ pension fund. That money belongs to the workers, not the asset strippers!

This was the first strike at Grangemouth for more than eighty years, so the workers can’t be described as hotheads. They are, however, confident and determined to win. They are fighting for the future of their community. The work at the plant is in profoundly anti-social twelve hour shifts. Retirement is something to look forward to. The existing final salary pension scheme was a good one; but Grangemouth generates huge wealth. That is why a 48 hour walkout could produce panic and big losses to the whole economy. It hardly seems too much to ask that the workers, and their families, share in the wealth. But Ineos wants to close the final salary scheme to new entrants, and make the workers pay for their pensions.

It was noticeable first how young the workforce is, the over forty five year olds seem a small minority, and secondly that it’s not all blokes, as both women and men were on picket duty.  The stewards and I had not met before, but they welcomed me into their office.

The refinery is a huge site made up of separate works, so groups of pickets were situated round the area on several roads at various gates. Like the convenors, the pickets welcomed me and I learned that the pension scheme was fully funded and accruing money. It was worth £540 million, of which £500 million had been transferred. However, Jim Ratcliffe had refused to buy the other £40 million and they had not handed it over. New employees would not be allowed by Ineos to join this long established scheme.  I did not know the pickets, but again a local link was found as the wives of pickets on two different gates were Unison branch members, I was advised. Ineos clearly didn’t realise they are taking on more than 1,200 Unite members, but also their families, some of whom are also local trade unionists willing to support the strike.  Media reports of widespread petrol shortages seem not to be the case in Falkirk and Edinburgh.