The threat of disruption to Britain’s energy supply loomed last night after 2,000 power plant workers across the country walked out in wildcat strikes to protest about sackings at a Total refinery in Lincolnshire.

Construction and support workers from at least seven power stations and other oil refineries from Somerset to Yorkshire walked out in sympathy over the French company’s decision to sack 650 of its contractual staff.

As yet, such action has not threatened Britain’s power supply because all the workers who took part in the walk-outs are employed in construction or support roles. But there are fears that other key workers could follow suit after Total abruptly cancelled a scheduled meeting with Acas, the industrial arbitrators.

The dispute flared when one of Total’s contractors laid off 51 workers while another employer was hiring staff at the Lindsey plant, hit earlier this year by unofficial strikes over jobs for foreign workers. About 1,200 contract workers at the Lindsey terminal took unofficial action this week as efforts to convene talks floundered.

Yesterday, Total sent letters to 650 contract workers at the site informing them that they had until Monday afternoon to reapply for their jobs.

The sackings sparked a wave of sympathy strikes at power stations and other sites across Britain, with some activists warning that power workers could soon join the walkouts, threatening electricity supplies.

All of the 1,100 sub-contractors working on a new bioethanol refinery on Teesside operated by Ensus walked out at 10am yesterday. At Shell’s Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, a further 450 maintenance and contractor staff downed tools. A spokesman for E.ON UK, the German power giant, said 150 contracted employees at its power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire had walked out.

A spokesman for Drax, Britain’s biggest power station near Selby in Yorkshire, said about 200 contractor staff had downed tools in sympathy with the Lindsey staff on Thursday and Friday. About 90 staff walked out at the Saltend BP chemicals factory near Hull. RWE npower said 360 contractors had walked out yesterday at its Didcot A and Aberthaw power stations in Oxfordshire and Wales. In a statement, the group said: “No RWE npower staff are involved and the situation is not affecting operations at the power stations.”

There were also signs that the strike action was spreading to the nuclear industry as EDF Energy said that contracted workers at its Hinkley Point reactor in Somerset had walked out.

Another conventional EDF power plant at Cottam was also affected as was Scottish and Southern Energy’s Fiddler’s Ferry power station near Warrington.

While most of the power plants are continuing to operate as normal because a majority of staff were still working, power industry sources said that if the disruption escalated into an official strike, unscheduled plant closures could result because more workers would be reluctant to cross picket lines.

Unions have accused Total of employing brutal methods to threaten workers before a planned strike ballot among engineers in a few months.

Representatives of the GMB and Unite were contacted at 6.30am yesterday by Total, inviting them to talks in Lincolnshire that day. Total also contacted Acas, the industrial arbitrator, and asked them to attend the meeting in a move widely interpreted as a sign that the oil company might consider a compromise.

Peter Harwood, the chief conciliator at Acas, John Wilson and Sean Clarkson — both officials from the GMB, and Bernard McCauley, an official from Unite, all arrived in Lincolnshire for the meeting. As they waited for Nick Tranter, Total’s head of the Lindsey refinery, they were told by the oil company that the meeting had been cancelled.

In a statement last night, Total said: “We remain supportive of constructive negotiations between our contract companies and their workforces in line with the National Agreement between the construction industry and the trades unions. These negotiations cannot take place whilst faced with an illegal dispute. We have had contact with Acas today and hope to be able to talk with them further next week once our contractor workforce has had the opportunity to decide if they wish to continue on this important project.”

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