Lindsey refinery: redundancies begin despite bids to save site

Redundancies announced amid ongoing bids

On 29 September, insolvency firm FTI Consulting, which is managing Lindsey, issued redundancy notices to 125 workers. Unite revealed that at least two bids are on the table to purchase and run the site with a full workforce, but that these are being ignored. Instead, the union believes the preferred option is to decommission Lindsey and turn it into a storage terminal for oil tankers.

This move, Unite argues, would gut jobs, devastate the regional economy and weaken the UK’s energy security. The refinery directly employs 420 workers and supports a further 500 contractors, with thousands more jobs in the supply chain.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:

“The government has been tin-eared to the plight of workers at the second oil refinery facing closure in less than a year. This makes a mockery of government promises to protect workers and its plan for net zero. The government had promised to ensure that job-focused bids would be the priority at Lindsey, yet prior to bids even being considered, they are already issuing redundancy notices. Unless Labour start to back workers and British industry it will continue to haemorrhage support.”

A community dismantled

For workers in North Lincolnshire, the redundancies are not just numbers but lives upended.

“This is about thousands of families and an entire community whose livelihoods are being dismantled,”

said Jamie Dalgetty, Unite convenor at Lindsey. 

“Government must make a choice: protect creditors or protect jobs. We are fighting for the latter.”

Delegates at the Unite National Oil Refineries and Terminals Committee (NORTCC) meeting in London on 23-24 September, described the closure as chaotic and unsafe. Safety teams have been dismantled, key plants closed without proper decommissioning and maintenance neglected. They warned the site is operating “well below safe levels,” raising fears of a serious accident.

Workers with over 25 years of service have been dismissed without compensation. Technical staff have been laid off with less than a week’s notice. Families are facing unemployment, stress and upheaval.

Political shockwaves

Unite’s NORTCC has now written to General Secretary Sharon Graham urging her to demand the resignation of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Energy Minister Michael Shanks and to consider disaffiliating Unite from the Labour Party altogether.

At the same time, a Unite delegation is at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, pressing for urgent government action to halt the redundancies and secure a just solution.

Cliff Bowen, Unite Executive Council member for CPPT, said:

“Exporting jobs and skills by attempting to decarbonise through deindustrialisation and destroying working-class kids’ futures and their communities whilst moving production abroad has never been the energy transition this country needs. Just ask the working-class people of Grangemouth, the thousands of workers who have lost their jobs in the North Sea or our members at the Lindsey Oil Refinery who are watching as they fight for their jobs and their communities. Workers refuse a repeat of the unjust transition which devastated Grangemouth. The type of transition we are seeing is not one on our terms, driven by a tone-deaf government. It must stop and my union and our members will not put up with it any longer.”

Energy security at risk

Lindsey is not just vital for jobs but for national energy security. Before its closure, the refinery supplied around 25 per cent of the UK’s diesel market. Without it, the UK becomes more reliant on imports, particularly from Turkey and India, where much of the diesel is produced using Russian crude.

Turning Lindsey into a storage terminal may satisfy creditors, including HMRC and oil company Glencore, but it would leave Britain dangerously exposed to global market shocks and price rises at the pump. With the right government support, Unite argues, Lindsey could remain a functioning refinery, preserving both jobs and fuel security.

A European trend

The Lindsey case is part of a broader pattern across Europe: deindustrialisation disguised as decarbonisation. From Grangemouth to the North Sea and from Germany to Italy, plants are being shut down without plans for workers or investment in alternatives. Promises of new green jobs remain largely unfulfilled, while communities are left devastated.

At the NORTCC meeting, international contributions reinforced this perspective. Mike Smith of the United Steelworkers described the same trend in the United States, warning that transitions are increasingly “without workers”, leaving unions to demand public ownership of refineries to protect jobs and energy stability.

 “A test case for Europe”

IndustriALL Global Union has pledged full support to Unite and its members, stressing that Lindsey is a test case for Europe.

“What is happening at Lindsey is a test case. If governments allow companies to collapse without plans for jobs, skills, or safety, then we are headed for a transition without workers. IndustriALL stands with Unite and all our affiliates in the UK. We will mobilize international solidarity to defend jobs and demand that industry transitions are planned, just and negotiated, not chaotic and imposed,”

said Diana Junquera Curiel, IndustriALL energy director.

A fight for the future

Unite and IndustriALL demand:

• Immediate government intervention to halt redundancies and site dismantling.
• A tripartite body bringing together workers, government and investors.
• A just transition plan that guarantees training, alternative jobsand site safety.
• Trade union participation in all decisions about Lindsey’s future.

The redundancies announced this week are not the end of the story. For Unite, Lindsey is a battleground, not only to defend thousands of jobs in North Lincolnshire, but to expose the dangers of an energy transition driven by market logic and political neglect.

The outcome will shape more than one refinery: it will shape whether workers have a future in the UK’s energy transition, or whether communities will continue to pay the price for a transition without justice.

PHOTO: IMMINGHAM, UK, 30 JUNE 2025, PRAX Lindsey Oil Refinery drone images showing offices, storage tanks, chimneys and flames. Stock Photo ID: 2647850779