The story of modern corporate Britain

Tanker drivers have seen their pay and conditions slashed in recent years, while Shell’s profits soar. Why wouldn’t they strike?

The government, the opposition and the bulk of the media are back in bed together again denouncing workers for striking in defence of their living standards. The hardline Blairite business secretary John Hutton declares today’s walkout by Shell tanker drivers over pay “cannot be justified” (what strike ever could be in the eyes of Hutton and his friends?). His Tory shadow, Alan Duncan, accuses the Unite union that called the four-day stoppage of being “utterly irresponsible“. The Independent today raised the hoary old spectre of Britain being “held hostage by the labour unions“.

None of this will wash. In parallel with millions of other employees, the tanker drivers have seen their wages and conditions drastically squeezed since Shell contracted out fuel deliveries 15 years ago. In 1992, when they were directly employed by the oil giant, their basic pay was around £32,000 for a 37-hour week. Today, it is still about £32,000 for a 48-hour week – in other words, a drastic real pay cut – while pensions have eroded, facilities deteriorated, hyper-flexibility and insecurity intensified.

In other words, it’s the story of modern corporate Britain – and the context for a 13% pay claim that would still leave the drivers earning substantially less in real terms than in the early days of John Major’s premiership. Meanwhile, on the back of soaring oil prices, Shell is now making £1.3bn profit a month as its executives enthusiastically stuff their pockets on the back of it. Shell’s chief executive was paid £4.5m last year as average boardroom salaries increased 16%. The drivers, on the other hand, have been offered 7% by the two Shell contractors, Hoyer and Suckling Transport.

If New Labour’s leaders had taken steps to rein in corporate greed and used the tax system to counter ballooning inequality, politicians like Duncan and Hutton – who instead recently demanded that Labour celebrate “huge salaries” – might have more credibility. As it is, workers in both the private and public sectors are increasingly taking action themselves wherever they can.

The response of tanker drivers working for other companies, who have refused to cross Shell workers’ picket lines this morning, is a demonstration of the breadth of support for the strike throughout the workforce. It also means the impact of the action is likely to go well beyond Shell garages, which account for about 10% of all filling stations.

The two sides in the dispute are now probably only a couple of hundred thousand pounds apart, but behind the scenes both the government and the CBI have been putting pressure on Shell not to settle. After the success of the Grangemouth pensions strike in April and growing industrial action over real terms pay cuts in the public sector, they’re worried about the impact of another high profile strike victory on the rest of the workforce. A bit late for that, you might think.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/13/oil.johnhutton