We are striking because our employer decided to change our pension from a non-contrib final salary to a contrib pension-it is at the moment overfunded by almost £30million and we make 1-2million PROFIT A DAY at the complex.I will die young due to the carcinogens I am in contact with also thats why !

james, Kincardine,

Has anyone in England noticed that the Treasury is apparently losing £25 million/day in revenue while the pipeline is shut? That's £9 BILLION/year... and that's just 30% of North Sea output. So despite the media lies, the truth is out - Scotland has massively subsidised England for decades!!

Graeme, Dinan, France

Greedy capitalists? How about greedy union organizers? When will people learn you can't vote yourself prosperity?

Josh, Portland, OR, USA

Glad to see that the company is doing its bit to fight the 'Brain Drain' and keep skilled engineering workers in Britain. Hurrah for the executive chappies! Boost their pensions and give them more share opitions.

E Skelton, cardiff, wales

The price of fuel could be as high as £2.00 a litre. This will make government happy because their share will not look so greedy. Fight back by installing Fuel Cells on your car. Depending on the fuel used they can save potentially up to and more than 100%. So if you are only burning 10 litres and wasting 40 litres of every 50 litres of your tank, installing a fuel cell and getting the timing reset could potentially increase that figure form the 10 litres to 20 litres burn and thereby show a 100% improvement.

To learn more visit
For cars www.toamazing.com/freecheapfuel.html

For Busses and trucks
www.toamazing.com/fuelcell4 truckers.html

Jas, Alders, UK

Wind up the pension scheme for all employees and give them a rise instead.
The company business is oil not pensions and it is silly to endanger the oil business and employee security by mixing the two.

Brian Gilbert, Hampton, Middx

Good for the planet?Think of all that CO2 that will be saved until the strike is over.

stephen Hulton, eure, france

It ain’t now far an electric car will travel on one charge, it is how long does the recharge take!

The Saturn EV1 would go 87 miles on a single charge, and IF you had the special recharging rig, you could recharge it in only 4 hours. With a normal 20 amp, 110 volt plug, it would take 16 hours. So it your auntie lives in the country, you could either buy her a recharger for your car, or drive there and spend the entire day and evening visiting before you would have enough of a charge to drive on home.

So when an electric car comes out that can be recharged in less than 30 minutes, then electric cars will become an viable vehicle for everyone. But when the recharge time is enough so that a drive and recharge comes out to a distance of about 15 miles per hour, then it ain’t a good solution.

As for the Strike, look for people on strike and siphon their tanks in their cars. When they are hurt as much as everyone else, then the strike will end.

Mobius, Orangevale, CA, USA

The only solution is a complete government takeover of all private industry and the implementation of well thought out five year plans. History has proven how well they work. Workers should get just as much pay on pension as they do at work. The government can lay off the Royals & print more money.

RichZ, Woodbridge, USA

In 1981, air traffic controllers in the United States went on strike and our air transportation system ground to a halt. President Reagan fired all 13,000 and reopened the skies with military controllers. The public cheered!

You have the right to withhold your labor, but not to cripple society.

Robert L. Mayo, Ashburn, Virginia, USA

It seems unbelievable that key workers employment contracts do not prohibit withdrawal of labour ,rather like the Police.No group of civilian employees should be able to wreak this level of economic havoc,but there should be no room for goalpost moving in their employment conditions either. Sort it!

phil glover, Grantown on Spey, Scotland

Clive says the electric cars are "independent of fossil fuels". Right... Electricity is genereated by what means? Hmmm?
And 100 miles in some parts of the world barely covers one days driving.
Get real. Listening ot global warming alarmists has made quite a mess of the global economy watch & see.

Michael, Belmont, USA

The strike will do some good. Drivers will find it to be a foretaste of things to come when there is no oil or it's too expensive, and workers will find it useful to contemplate not having a job, both of which are due in the not too distant future.

Dayahka, Aberdeen, USA

Sadly this is going to happen all around the world.

Craig Rubin, beverly hills, usa

Those who support the idea of indexed linked final salary pensions for "new workers" can only be economically illiterate or in receipt of such a pension. No corporation can support the expense of such schemes, as they will bankrupt the pension scheme and or the company paying out.

Giles Nixon, Ramsey, Isle of Man

Electrically powered commercial vehicles from Ford transit size up to 12 tons are currently in the product range of Tanfield group. They are independant of fossil fuel supplies, don`t pay the London congestion charge, pollution charge or Road Tax and with a range of over 100 miles + per charge are very cheap to run.

Hopefully those users who have been far sighted and socialy responsible enough to buy them will reap the benefit if we have a longterm fuel crisis on our hands.

Clive (Small Tanfield shareholder)

Clive, Warwickshire, England

Matt no this is not the same this is the UK voice of the 1970s now about to make a come back because we have a weak Labour Goverment who dare not stand up and be counted.

It will be the same if the Trade Unions have there way we can only hope employers show more backbone than politicians.

Dave, Mold, Flintshire

Bring it on !!!!!!

Ian Payne, WALSALL,

In 1983 I had to work more than two hours to take home enough money to fill my gas tank. Today, I can fill it with what I take home from slightly over one hour's work. I would say the price of gas has come down.

Dave, Annapolis, Maryland - USA

1)Non contributary pensions! Thought only civil servants and MPs had them! They don't hav eto strike to keep theirs.

2) Not clear just what the 1/3 of North Sea supplies are actually used for - petrol? lubricating products?

diana, derby,

Thank you Al Gore! Ethanol... let them eat reformulated corn!

Matt, New Berlin, US

2008 and Labour and the Unions turn the lights off again. Roll on Cameron.

Roarke, Wembley, UK

"Socialism is really helping the world a lot isn't it?"

This is a problem caused by greedy capitalists who are trying to shaft the workers, just like the housing meltdown and the present food crisis were caused by greedy capitalistic speculators.

Ian, London, UK

Normally I am against strikes - for example the NUT strike is totally unacceptable. However, Grangemouth is another matter: one more example of greedy employers abandoning their responsibilities to provide decent pensions. The taxpayer will in the end have to pick up the tab if Eos succeeds

david, Ligneyrac, France

Wow, I can BBQ tonight with all the carbon not being emitted over there - Thanks!

Bob, Denver, USA

Where is Alex Salmond now?? He wants to be the President of Scotland but will be happy to let Westminster sort this mess out. The knock on effect will drive up oil prices as major pipelines feeding this plant are closed and offshore production is curtailed - very damaging to the UK.

Henry Turner, Houston, Texas

Just think how much pollution will be prevented. Maybe more folks can walk or bike to work.

George, Colorado, USA

I feel for the U.K. these days... when Blair was booted I posted on a blog that the U.K. must be losing their mind, how could they, and why? ... and they would regret it ... now they're angry with Brown... how utterly predictable. Next?

Alistair Sinclair, San Diego, USA

What a great job unions do for your country, Eh?
Socialism is really helping the world a lot isn't it?

ricardo maxwell, Orange Park, USA

Matt,
If you had read the article, you would see the strike is over pensions. No doubt they are being severely hammered - whilst the board load theirs up to the hilt.

We are going to see more and more strikes as the year progresses, and Brown's utter incompetence really begins to bite.

Jeremy Poynton, Frome, Somerset

How is it possible to write an entire story about the shortage of petrol without once, mentioning the price at the pump?

Laurence Gallagher, Harrison Township, USA

Shoddy reporting. Why not tell us why the workers want to strike? It would be interesting to know what their problem is.

The labor unions are helping to kill the U.S. auto industry with repeated strikes despite being one of the highest paid jobs and getting extensive benefits.

Is this the same

Matt, Butler, USA / PA