Nearly 250 jobs at the Thermo Fisher site in Perth could be lost, the Perthshire Advertiser has learned.
Staff were told the news on Wednesday morning.
It comes just eight months after the plant at Inveralmond was extended to much fanfare.
A deal was struck to bring 200 jobs to the Fair City to help meet the global demand for COVID-19 tests.
The American company expanded the site to allow for the manufacture of eight million sample collection tubes a week.
It is understood workers were told this week that over-production meant their jobs were now being made redundant.
One worker told the Perthshire Advertiser that 244 jobs were set to go.
They said: “ We don’t even have a union so they have asked staff to come forward to support other staff and set up a representation group.
“When we went to take these jobs, people were leaving other jobs to go there. They sold it as jobs we could be in for years.
“They have completely sold us out. They are very quick to blow their own trumpet but we were warned not to go to the press.”
A spokesperson for Thermo Fisher said: “Thermo Fisher Scientific routinely evaluates and adjusts our business capacity to best meet customer needs and societal demands.
“At our Perth site, we manufacture products that are critical to COVID-19 testing, specifically products that enable the transport of patient samples to laboratories. As we enter the next phase of our pandemic response, we are realigning our manufacturing output to meet customer requirements here in the UK.
“As a result, Thermo Fisher is proposing to reduce the number of employees at our Perth site in response to evolving customer demands.
“We are beginning consultations with employee representatives at the site. The company is doing everything possible to support our colleagues who may be affected by this proposal and is committed to treating them with the utmost dignity, respect and transparency.”
