Inflation warning after fuel deal
The business secretary has issued a warning about inflationary pay rises after tanker drivers working for Shell settled a pay dispute with employers.
The deal came after a four-day strike by the drivers. They had originally wanted a 13% pay rise, and turned down 7%. Their final deal is not yet known.
John Hutton said the deal reflected the particular conditions in the industry.
He said: “There needs to be discipline in public and private sector pay if we are to keep inflation under control.”
He also thanked the fuel industry for working hard to minimise disruption, “and the driving public for behaving responsibly over the difficult four days of the strike”.
“Restocking at the pumps is now under way and we can expect things to return to normal over the next few days,” he said.
‘Everything we were looking for’
The stoppage by about 600 drivers working for haulage firms Hoyer UK and Suckling started on Friday and led to hundreds of petrol stations across Britain running out of fuel.
Further industrial action by the drivers, delivering for Shell, was due to take place at the weekend but was called off after the pay deal was agreed on Tuesday.
Details of the settlement were not immediately available, but are expected to be made public when they are given to drivers on Wednesday.
Following the pay agreement, one union official reportedly said: “We got everything we were looking for.”
Drivers will be balloted over the pay deal over the coming week. Their union Unite is urging them to accept.
It was not clear whether Shell was involved in the final settlement, but the firm welcomed the news.
Mr Hutton’s comments come as the UK’s inflation rate rose to 3.3% in May, up from 3% in April and way above the Bank of England’s target of 2%.
The Bank’s governor Mervyn King has warned that rising food and energy prices could push UK consumer inflation above 4% this year.
Source: BBC News
Tags: crisis, fuel costs, price rising, strike, UK