MORE than 140 jobs have been earmarked for redundancy at a chemical plant in Fife, with more workers in Scotland’s oil and gas industry facing a similar fate, union bosses have warned.
Unite the union has said the oil and gas industry in Scotland is being hit by an “avalanche” of job losses as hundreds of Grangemouth and Mossmorran-based contractors face unemployment in the coming weeks.
More than 140 jobs with the contractor Altrad, who provided operational support to the Petroineos oil refinery in Grangemouth, face losing their job at the end of June, the union has warned.
Altrad held a number of contracts and undertook several critical support services at the refinery, including access, thermal insulation and protective coatings.
The firm has also announced at least 98 redundancies at the Mossmorran site, claiming a downturn in work and cost savings being imposed by ExxonMobil for the decision.
Further job losses at Mossmorran are also taking place with other contractors, as Bilfinger has issued 10 redundancy notices, while Kaefer is cutting 55 jobs.
Sharon Graham (below), Unite’s general secretary, has called on the UK and Scottish governments to do more to help protect oil and gas workers.
She said: “There is an avalanche of redundancies taking place across Scotland’s oil and gas industry.
“Theses job losses highlight what Unite has been saying about the unfolding jobs crisis in the oil and gas industry.
“The reality is that the UK and Scottish governments are failing to protect thousands of jobs. Government policy is also accelerating these huge losses without any credible jobs plan in place.”
The redundancies at Mossmorran follow a report by Robert Gordon University which warned that the UK oil and gas energy workforce could shrink by 400 jobs every two weeks for the next five years.
An impact assessment by PwC found that the Grangemouth refinery made an economic contribution of £403.6m per annum, and almost 3000 workers were reliant on the refinery’s operations.
In total, there are nine possible projects identified by Project Willow for the site.
However, under Petroineos' proposals, most of these would not start for several years after the site had closed and jobs had been lost.
Unite has argued that many of the identified projects could be fast-tracked and implemented immediately.
The union has suggested that there could be a rapid move to convert the existing refinery into a Sustainable Aviation Fuel production hub.
Derek Thomson, Unite’s Scottish secretary, said that the job losses in Scotland's oil and gas industry are unnecessary and that there should be new energy projects underway to protect workers.
He said: “The historic end of oil refining at Grangemouth is now causing the widely predicted domino effect with hundreds of jobs being lost in the supply chain.”
“Mossmorran contractor jobs are also at risk which will add to the thousands of jobs lost, and the thousands more to come on the horizon.
“The job losses are unnecessary because there should be new energy projects underway like SAF production at Grangemouth. Scotland is in serious danger of losing thousands of highly skilled jobs while creating no new opportunities in greener industries for workers to transition into.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We have taken rapid steps to deliver the next generation of good jobs for North Sea workers in a fair and orderly transition as part of our Plan for Change, including by making the biggest investment in offshore wind and two first-of-a-kind carbon capture storage clusters.
“This comes alongside Great British Energy, headquartered in Aberdeen, which has already announced a £300 million investment into British supply chains, unlocking significant investment and helping to create thousands of skilled jobs.”
The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.
