Shell

Royal Dutch Shell, one of the largest and most profitable companies on earth has announced it is closing its pension scheme for new UK employees. This is despite having record high share prices, a turnover of over £360 billion, and having much more money paid into the pension scheme than is taken out. Shell has one of the most financially sound schemes in the UK, with a £1.1 billion surplus. There needs to a be a genuine joining up of pension campaigns between the private and public sectors.

Oil tanker drivers supplying Shell petrol stations have called off a planned second round of industrial action after being offered a reported 14 per cent pay increase over two years.

This article on the Shell to Sea campaign and on Rossport Solidarity Camp, was written in May 2006, for a publication which unfortunately did not see the light of day. It is a look at the campaign against the state and Shell’s “development” of a corner of the west of Ireland, situating it in an international context of environmental justice struggles.

Protests take place in Irish cities as state forces move in support of Shell.