Stanlow 300
ALL 960 existing staff at Shell’s Stanlow oil refinery will have their pension benefits protected as part of a deal struck last week between trade unions and a potential buyer of the site.
Negotiators for Indian-owned Essar Energy have withdrawn a plan to switch refinery staff from their current final salary pension scheme to a defined contribution scheme following several rounds of talks over the last two weeks.
Resolution of the pensions issue clears the way for completion of the $350m sale of the oil refinery to Essar Energy before the end of this month.
The Cheshire facility would become Essar’s first UK oil refinery and also mean Shell would no longer own any refineries in Britain.
It is understood the unions have been told that no redundancies are planned at the plant.
There may even be a small amount of recruitment under the new owners.
