Nearly 900 workers at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire have been told that they have until Monday to reapply for their jobs after being sacked following a series of wildcat strikes.

Total, the French company that owns the refinery, confirmed late last night that it had sacked the workers after what it called an "unofficial, illegal walkout" by about 1,200 contractors in protest at 51 redundancies, bringing work to a halt on a desulphurisation unit.

The 900 sacked contractors have until June 22 to reapply for their jobs. Total claimed the walkout was not backed by the GMB or Unite unions.

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 Italian and Portuguese workers to build a new unit rather than use local employees.

The latest protest started when Shaw, a sub-contractor, notified staff of redundancies because work on a specific phase of the building project was ending. Workers said that an agreement not to cut jobs had been broken. Total denies any knowledge of such an agreement and insisted on a return to work and an immediate end to “illegal” action.

In a statement, Total said: "The main contract company, Jacobs, and Total have repeatedly sought to encourage the workforce to return to work so that proper negotiations can take place.

“This is in line with the union and industry-agreed process that negotiations over illegal strikes cannot commence until the workforce has returned to work.

“It is frustrating and disappointing that these attempts have failed.”

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.

Unite said that it was “extremely concerned” about Total’s actions and was last night seeking talks with the group’s local management.

The initial dismissal of 51 workers at the Lindsey oil refinery has sparked sympathy strikes at other oil and power installations in Yorkshire, Cheshire, South Wales, Hull 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 at Widnes, Cheshire, and the Ratcliffe power station in Nottinghamshire.

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