<article><p class="lead">There will be strike action at BP's 393,700 b/d refinery in Rotterdam unless the company improves its pay offer to employees, according to trade union FNV.</p><p>The union has given BP a one month ultimatum and is awaiting a response. It said it will look at a strike if the company does not make a new offer complying with its demands by 11 December.</p><p>"Our members massively voted down an earlier offer from BP," said FNV director Egbert Schellenberg. </p><p>Among other things, the union wants BP to accelerate the progress of young employees to the higher pay grades, a 5pc pay rise for all its members at the refinery and improved compensation for overtime. The union negotiates on behalf of 500 of the refinery's 800 employees.</p><p>Rotterdam is the second largest refinery in Europe and accounts for nearly 3pc of the region's capacity. Co-ordinated strikes shut down all but one refinery in France in October, taking more than 900,000 b/d of capacity offline at one point, causing a severe shortage of fuels in France that sucked diesel out of the international markets and pushed regional prices to their highest ever premium over crude. </p><p>All the French strikes have now finished, but workers at Russian firm Lukoil's 320,000 b/d Priolo refinery in Sicily are planning a strike on 18 November, to protest uncertainty over the future of the site. That refinery is the second largest in the Mediterranean region.</p><p class="bylines">By Benedict George</p></article>
