LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Hundreds of energy workers across the UK have taken strike action Friday in protest over the use of foreign workers on a multimillion-dollar oil refinery project on the northeast coast of England . Protesters gather outside the Total Lindsey oil refinery in north-east England on January 30 . The dispute surrounds the decision by oil giant Total to award Italian company IREM a contract to build a new hydro desulphurization facility at its Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire . The British Press Association reported that several hundred demonstrators had gathered for a third day outside the plant , following a walk-out by contractors on Wednesday , but the unofficial action has now spread to other parts of the UK , including Scotland and Wales . In Scotland , hundreds of workers at the giant Grangemouth oil refinery walked out following an early morning meeting Friday . According to PA , the mechanical contractors , who work for BP and INEOS , said they were supporting their colleagues in Lincolnshire . Elsewhere , PA reported that police were called to the Aberthaw power station near Barry in South Wales after workers staged a protest , while around 400 workers staged a demonstration at the Wilton oil refinery in Teesside , north-east England . In a statement released Friday , Total said : `` We recognize the concerns of contractors but we want to stress that there will be no direct redundancies as a result of this contract being awarded to IREM and that all IREM staff will be paid the same as the existing contractors working on the project . `` It is important to note that we have been a major local employer for 40 years with 550 permanent staff employed at the refinery . There are also between 200 and 1000 contractors working at the refinery , the vast majority of which work for UK companies employing local people . `` On this one specific occasion , IREM was selected , through a fair and competitive tender process , as the most appropriate company to complete this work . We will continue to put contracts out to tender in the future and we are confident we will award further contracts to UK companies . '' But Bernard McAuley , a representative of Britain 's Unite union , was quoted by the BBC telling demonstrators in Lincolnshire that there was `` sufficient unemployed skilled labor wanting the right to work on that site and they are demanding the right to work on that site . '' Five British companies and two European contractors bid for the work before it was awarded to the Italian firm on the basis that it was supplying its own permanent workforce , PA said . The news agency added that 100 Italian and Portuguese workers are currently on site , with a further 300 expected to arrive next month . The workers are being accommodated in large , gray housing barges moored at nearby Grimsby . Meanwhile , The Guardian newspaper reported Friday that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quizzed about the strikes during a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland . He said : `` I understand people 's worries about their jobs . I understand people 's anxieties about employment across the country . But we are doing everything we can both to get economic growth moving in our country and to help people who are unemployed , to help them into new jobs . ''
Dispute over Total 's decision to award oil refinery contract to Italian company . IREM will supply their own permanent workers from Italy and Portugal . Striking workers at Lincolnshire site joined by energy workers across UK . Total : There will be no direct redundancies as a result of this contract .