LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- British union leaders will recommend Thursday ending an unofficial strike that has dragged on more than a week at the country 's third-largest oil refinery , the arbitrator in the dispute announced Wednesday . Protesters at the Lindsay Oil Refinery are opposed to plans to employ non-British workers at the plant . Workers walked off the job January 28 to protest the hiring of hundreds of foreign workers for a construction project at the Lindsey oil refinery in eastern England . Their action has prompted similar `` wildcat '' strikes , unsanctioned by national unions , at other sites across the country . The compromise will involve opening 101 new jobs to British workers , the arbitration service ACAS said in a written statement . Local union leaders had earlier told demonstrators they were near their goal of being offered half the jobs involved in one of the latest subcontracts connected to the construction project -- 102 new jobs for a minimum of nine weeks . `` If you ca n't be happy with that , you ca n't be happy with anything , '' a local union official said at a demonstration televised by Britain 's Sky News . The union leader did not identify himself . The French-based oil company Total , which owns the plant , confirmed a deal was in the cards . `` Union officials will present details of the agreement to the workforce at 7:30 a.m. ( 2:30 a.m . ET Thursday ) and recommend a return to work , '' Total said in a release . Stephen Hughes , a Labour legislator in the European Parliament , warned that the reported compromise could itself run afoul of European labor law , opening the way for foreign workers who lose out to British labor to claim they were being discriminated against on the basis of nationality . Union leaders have been meeting over three days with Total , Jacobs , the main site contractor , and IREM , the Italian firm hired to carry out the project , in talks moderated by ACAS . They had already rejected one proposal , a union official told CNN . Union leaders accuse Total of discriminating against British workers by subcontracting with IREM , which has hired workers from Italy and Portugal . Total rejects the allegation . Overall , the construction project has employed , directly or indirectly , 600 to 1,000 workers for about 18 months , Total said . `` It has never been , and never will be , the policy of Total to discriminate against British companies or British workers . We have been a major local employer for 40 years and the majority of our 500 permanent staff are local , '' the company said in a statement released Monday . It said IREM had won the sub-contract through a fair and legal bidding process . ACAS will investigate the bidding process and report within weeks , it said Wednesday . Hundreds of workers at British power plants and refineries have been walking off the job in unofficial `` wildcat '' strikes since the Lindsey workers put down their tools last Wednesday . Spontaneous strikes took place Tuesday in every corner of the country : at the Stanlow oil refinery in western England , Drax power station in the northeast , Petroplus Coryton Refinery in the southeast and Longannet power station in Scotland . A total of nearly 1,000 workers were off the job at the three English locations . Scottish Power did not specify how many workers were on strike . Representatives of all four plants said contractors , not full-time staff , had walked off the job , and all said operations were not affected . But resolving the Lindsey strike may not be the end of the matter . Union leaders say the strike there is only a reflection of problems with the way Britain implements European Union employment directives . Unite , one of the UK 's largest unions , called last week for a national protest in London . The country 's main labor groups have all issued statements in support of the striking workers . `` The government is failing to grasp the fundamental issues . The problem is not workers from other European countries working in the UK , nor is it about foreign contractors winning contracts in the UK . The problem is that employers are excluding UK workers from even applying for work on these contracts , '' Unite General Secretary Derek Simpson said Tuesday . `` No European worker should be barred from applying for a British job and absolutely no British worker should be barred from applying for a British job . '' The dispute has reverberated up to the highest levels of government , with the prime minister and the leader of the opposition trading barbs about it in Parliament on Wednesday . Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he hoped workers would accept the ACAS-moderated deal despite their `` reservations . '' Brown also rejected accusations by Conservative leader David Cameron that his use of the slogan `` British jobs for British workers '' in a 2007 speech had pandered to `` protectionist fears . '' `` Can anybody here say that they do n't want British workers to get jobs in our country ? '' Brown retorted in the House of Commons .
Deal agreed to end strike over non-UK labor at British oil refinery . Arbitration service says deal involves offering 101 new jobs to British workers . Score: 6 Protests sparked by Total awarding project to Italian firm employing Italians .