The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Jobs event supports redundant workers
EMPLOYMENT: Business community rallies to help former Mcgill staff
The Tayside business community rallied together yesterday to support hundreds of workers who lost their jobs in two company collapses.
Employers and support organisations attended a Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (Pace) event at Apex City Quay in Dundee to offer jobs and advice to people who were made redundant when Mcgill and Land & Building Services went into administration.
More than 50 jobs were being advertised at the various stalls at the event.
Evonne Boyd, area manager of Skills Development Scotland, which co-ordinated the Pace response on behalf of the Scottish Government, said she was “overwhelmed” by the support from the Tayside business community.
“It’s testament to how people in Dundee want to support the workforce,” she added.
Hundreds of workers who were made redundant when Dundee firms Mcgill and Land & Building Services went into administration attended a job matching event yesterday.
Around 30 local employers as well as 13 support organisations attended the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (Pace) event at Apex City Quay in Dundee.
More than 50 jobs were being advertised at the various stalls at the event.
Evonne Boyd, area manager of Skills Development Scotland, which co-ordinated the Pace response on behalf of the Scottish Government, said she was “overwhelmed” by the support from the Tayside business community.
She said: “We are looking to match jobs with skills.
“We have between 25 and 30 employers. We’ve also got 13 organisations that are here to purely support and give advice and guidance – money advice, benefit advice, careers advice, the whole range of support.
“We have been overwhelmed by the support from the Tayside business community.
“We’ve not had to approach too many employers; they have come to us.
“It’s testament to how people in Dundee want to support the workforce. We’ve got employers with multiple vacancies and a lot of people keen to get back into work.”
Ms Boyd said that all vacancies would be emailed to the 374 Mcgill workers that were made redundant through the administrators KPMG. Land & Building Services’ 27 employees had also been invited to yesterday’s event.
She added: “There are feelings of distress and devastation when redundancies hit but today the employees are upbeat, keen to speak to exhibitors and asking advice, some of them with a smile on their faces as well. There’s a real buzz.
“Self-employment is an option for workers as well and we’ve got Business Gateway here and also D&A College for people who want to consider further education.”
Among the businesses advertising vacancies were Longforgan-based TSG.
HR manager Maria Bell said: “We have some jobs available and we are collecting CVS as we have a lot of construction work coming up in Scotland.
“My son works for Mcgill and as a local employer we want to see local people get back into work.”
Audrey Willis, HR manager for Ravensby Glass, said: “We have a few jobs going and we were keen to support the event – Dundee needs all the support it can get at the moment.”
Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce was running a jobs board with more than 40 vacancies at the event.
Dundee City Council’s Community Job Shops team was also at the event offering access to computers and help with CVS.
The council’s development convener, Lynne Short, called on the firms’ workforces to not give up as they look for fresh employment opportunities.
She said: “Mcgill is a highly skilled workforce that have trades, experience and transferable skills.
“They can’t give up – Dundee is a city that’s building things again.
“I am grateful to all the companies who have come to the event.
“Every single job that is lost is personal to every single person in the city. That’s why we are all here, showing support.”
Eilis Elder, business development manager at Perth-based construction firm Algo, said: “Mcgill going down is an absolute tragedy and my heart goes out to the workers.
“We have several positions we are looking to fill and our stand has been really busy.”
Former Mcgill employee John De’gernier said he had been busy handing out his CV to potential employers.
He said: “It came as a shock though there had been issues getting materials from merchants for a while.
“The writing was on the wall but I’m surprised that nobody stepped up to rescue a company which had £28 million worth of work on the books.”
The meeting was held as it was confirmed an offshoot of the company – Mcgill Homes – is still in operation and “not part of the administrator’s remit”.
It came after The Courier revealed Scottish Enterprise, unsatisfied with the firm’s turnaround plan, rejected an appeal for a loan and Santander removed its overdraft facility.
Derek Stewart, 41, from Fintry, said: “I think the situation has been handled terribly. I would hate to think that Scottish Enterprise didn’t try to help the company.
“£2 million isn’t a lot of money in their terms. Whether it’s Mcgill or Scottish Enterprise at fault, it is a Dundee company that employs that many people and it should not have fallen, because it has a knock-on effect.
“I would hate to think that I didn’t have to be here today looking for a job.”
Colin Gordon, 57, an electrician from Perth, said: “The industry relies on apprentices. I am a few years from retirement and my boots need filled.
“What is the industry going to be like if there are no apprentices?”
Darren Mccann, 44, said he feared he would have to put a dream trip to New York next month on hold. “I had been half hoping the meeting today was to say the banks were coming through to help – but it wasn’t as it turns out,” he said.
The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise have been criticised for their handling of the situation.
Scottish Enterprise yesterday released a list of email exchanges and meetings since November between it and Mcgill, as it decided whether to offer aid.
Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said the government “did all it could”.
Tayside and Fife do not have their economic problems to seek right now.
As 150 workers at Babcock Rosyth contemplated a bleak future after the axe fell on the shipyard once more, dozens of newly-redundant Mcgill and Land & Building Services contractors gathered in Dundee in the hope of finding new work at a Partnership Action for Continuing Employment event.
While the workers at the PACE event wore smiles, they must have been through gritted teeth as the challenge of finding new work hit home. Simple maths say they face an incredibly tough few months ahead.
A week ago more than 370 Mcgill workers joined the local labour market. They were followed by a couple of dozen more with the demise of Land & Building Services.
That is a huge amount of skilled labour to suddenly be released into an employment market already struggling to cope with Michelin’s decision to end tyre production in the city, with a potential loss of 850 jobs by mid-2020.
At Rosyth, replacing the Royal Navy’s multi-billion pound flagship aircraft carrier programme on the order books was always going to be a daunting task.
The toll of job losses at the yard now sits at 600 in the past 18 months, and there’s no guarantee it will end there.
It is easy in such circumstances to play the blame game. But practical options to put Tayside and Fife back to work are what is needed. Not sniping from the sidelines.