Rolls-Royce union snub to be probed by First Minister
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she will look again at the membership of the Rolls-Royce Working Group after it was revealed not a single trade union representative was invited to join it.
The group, which was established in June after Rolls-Royce announced plans to slash 700 jobs at its Inchinnan plant, was set up by the government to identify ways of supporting the company to retain the highly skilled workforce.
But Unite, the union which represents those threatened with redundancy, says it has not been given a seat at the table.
The glaring omission was raised by leader of the Labour Party Richard Leonard at Holyrood where he demanded workers be given a voice in the committee.
Explaining the first minister had vowed to work with trade unions and adopt a “team Scotland” approach to the crisis, Mr Leonard said: “She was wrong.
“The Scottish Government’s Rolls- Royce working group does not include one Rolls-Royce trade union representative. If it was a team, it was a team that did not include the players.
“This is not just about the future of a site; it is about the future of jobs, at a time when Scotland is on the precipice of a major unemployment crisis.
“Can you now share with the workforce what has been done to secure their jobs?”
Ms Sturgeon, who spoke on the day trade unionists turned out to lobby the government for support, said the issue of membership would be addressed.
She also told parliament no stone would be left unturned by ministers in their quest to save the Renfrewshire jobs and wider aviation sector.
“First of all, if there is a concern about the membership of the task force, I will take that away and we will look to address it,” she said.
“The Scottish Government has no interest in not having everyone involved in a collective effort to do everything that we can to secure jobs and, if it is at all possible, to secure Rolls-Royce’s presence in Scotland.
“I hope that we are able to work together. As I said at the outset, if there are genuine concerns that we have not got some things right along the way, particularly when it comes to the membership of the task force, I am happy to address that quickly.”
Ms Sturgeon revealed that she spoke to the chief executive of Rolls-Royce a few weeks ago and that the working group was looking at a number of matters with the company.
The group is also, she said, looking at what the Scottish Government do in the short term to try and protect jobs, while also looking at how Rolls-Royce could explore new technologies to ensure its continued presence in Scotland.
She added: “As we have done in the past with other major parts of our industry that have been under threat, the Scottish Government will leave no stone unturned and will do everything that we can to protect jobs and to retain as many as we feasibly can.
“However, neither Richard Leonard nor I do anyone any favours if we underplay the particular challenges in the aviation sector right now.”
We will do everything we can to protect jobs and retain as many as we feasibly can