Total SA (TOT) said Friday around 900 contract workers at its U.K. Lindsey oil refinery are to have their contracts terminated after staging unofficial strike action this week.

"Total can confirm, with regret, that our contractors have now started the process of ending the current employment contracts for their workforce on the HDS-3 [hydro-desulfurization] construction project," the company said in a statement.

"GMB condemns the action of Total," said the general-secretary of the GMB union Paul Kenny. "Total have for a full week refused to meet the union to resolve the problems through Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service."

He warned that discontent over the way the company had handled the negotiations could see the unofficial strikes and protests spread further. "It seems pretty obvious that there is a mass case of victimization taking place here."

A spokeswoman at Total said the main contract company Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) had informed workers of the decision Thursday. Workers will be able to reapply for their jobs until 1600 GMT on June 22.

The 200,000 barrel a day refinery meanwhile continues to operate as normal, Total said.

Dow Jones Newswires contacted Jacobs' office in Scotland but was referred to the company's headquarters in California, no one was immediately available there to comment.

-By Angela Henshall and Nick Heath, Dow Jones Newswires; (4420) 7842 9405; nicholas.heath@dowjones.com