Great Britain: GMB and Unite unions get compensation for poor housing and travel in return for the end of the dispute at the construction of a gas terminal in Shetland

A long-running dispute over standards of accommodation and travel to work at the construction of a gas terminal in Shetland has finally been resolved. Some 850 workers, members of the GMB and Unite unions, have accepted an offer of compensation of up to £5,500 (€6,635) per individual (depending on their length of employment on the project). This was in spite of the lockout organized by the main contractor, Petrofac.
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Late last November, the GMB union alleged that nearly fifty of its engineering construction members had been locked out work by their employer, Petrofac Offshore Engineering & Operations, the main contractor building the gas terminal. The issue at hand was unsuitable lodgings on a barge and the two hours travel time taken to get back and forth if workers chose not to use this particular accommodation by staying in Lerwick.

The GMB made the dispute official. The employer lockout followed both the

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