THE Grangemouth refinery dispute looks set to drag on for at least a fortnight as the operators insisted on continuing disciplinary action against a trade union convener and branded a work-to-rule "irresponsible".

The UK Government is insisting the current level of action does not threaten fuel supplies and, along with the Scottish Government, is keen to help the company INEOS and union Unite get back round the table. But there was an overwhelming ballot in favour of action up to and including all-out strike, which could be damaging for the wider economy.

The union wants all four parties to stage a summit on the crisis but is insisting that, first, disciplinary action against its official, Stevie Deans, over allegations linked to Labour Party vote-rigging in Falkirk must be dropped.

Unite sources indicated that hard work was going on behind the scenes to set up the summit but said there had been no response from the company.

INEOS chairman Calum MacLean claimed the union was "gambling" with jobs, describing the industrial action as "irresponsible". He said: "This survival plan is the only way to save the petrochemicals business at Grangemouth and industrial action of any type will only make it harder to achieve. If the survival plan doesn't work, Grangemouth Petrochemicals will close by 2017."