The MD of Turners (Soham) said it was “extremely disappointing” that despite best efforts tanker drivers in Grangemouth were out on strike today (17th October) in a continuing row over pay.
Paul Day told Motor Transport the company had done its utmost to sort out the situation but plans were in place to prevent any impact on airports in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The Unite union said strike action among the drivers began at 2.45am and would continue each day up to the end of 21 October when the action would conclude.
It branded Turners’ apparent pay offer as “miserly” and claimed the company had refused to budge on its 1% increase for 2025 and offer only marginal improvements on working conditions and allowances.
The union added that the haulage company had proposed a pay offer in the following year based on the CPI inflation rate in January 2026, but this had been rejected by its membership.
Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Turners is driving our members towards strike action by its continual refusal to improve upon what is a miserly pay offer from a very profitable company.
“We will fully support our members in their fight to secure better jobs, pay and conditions.”
The union said strikes would significantly hit fuel supplies to airlines in the Scottish cities; however, Day challenged this.
He said: “We feel we have tried our utmost to resolve this dispute, initially there were two groups of drivers involved.
“We have been to ACAS and the dispute is resolved with the larger group.
“A small group of five drivers have decided to escalate to taking action, it is extremely disappointing.”
And he added: “We have had to involve customers to ensure plans are in place so that no airport is impacted and no other parts of our operation are affected.”
