Nearly 900 workers were dismissed after a wildcat strike by contractors at Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire, according to Unite, the union.

About 1,200 contractors walked out last week in protest at 51 redundancies, bringing work to a halt on a desulphurisation unit. The protest started when Shaw, a sub-contractor, notified staff of redundancies because work on the current phase of the building project was ending.

The workers say that an agreement not to cut jobs had been broken. Total, the French energy group that owns the refinery, denies any knowledge of such an agreement and ordered them to return to work and end their “illegal” action immediately.

The GMB union had asked Acas, the employment and conciliation service, to convene talks between the parties, but Total said that it would not take part in any discussions until the contractors had returned to work.

Reports last night suggested that Total had lost patience with the protesters and dismissed almost 900 workers. Total did not return calls. Unite said that it was “extremely concerned” about Total’s actions and was understood to be working to arrange immediate talks with the group’s local management.

The mass dismissal followed news that the Lindsey incident had sparked strikes at other oil and power installations in Yorkshire, Cheshire and Nottinghamshire. Reports of unofficial strikes and protests came from Drax, in Yorkshire, Britain’s largest coal-fired power generator, from Fiddlers Ferry, a power station in Widnes, Cheshire, and the Ratcliffe power station in Nottinghamshire.

Lindsey, one of Britain’s biggest oil refineries, was hit by mass industrial action in January over the use of foreign workers. Hundreds of construction staff walked out after the company brought in Italians and Portuguese to build a new unit rather than use local employees.

A representative of Unite told the BBC last night that staff had believed there was an agreement not to cut any jobs while those foreign contactors were employed.

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