Staff ‘kept in the dark’ over jobs

BIFAB: Redundancy shock for yard workers

BiFab workers were kept in the dark about losing their jobs until just a few hours before they were handed redundancy notices, according to a source close to the yards.

New owners DF Barnes issued the statutory notices on Friday to 35 of the 43 staff working on the fabrication frontline in Methil and Burntisland.

The scale and speed of the job losses have shocked unions and workers, who had been buoyed by the takeover by the Canadian firm less than a month ago.

A source close to the workers said they should have been given a “week’s heads-up” about the notices.

“You would like to think (the owners) would engage the proper consultative forums that are in there with the collective agreement.

“The worrying thing is looking forward. Hopefully that’s not a sign of things to come with employment relations.”

Workers say they were told about the notices on Friday morning, ahead of the midday announcement.

The Courier understands there are no meetings scheduled to take place between the owners, Scottish Government and unions over the bank holiday weekend. On Friday, shadow Scottish secretary Lesley Laird, the Labour MP in Fife, said talks must take place over the break as a “matter of urgency”.

The fabrication yard has been left without any work following the end of a contract for building platforms for offshore wind turbines. BiFab received a boost three weeks ago with takeover firm DF Barnes.

Under their plan, the Fife yards would be left with a skeleton workforce of eight as the company seeks fresh contracts.

Hopefully that’s not a sign of things to come with employment relations

Picture: Steven Brown. Statutory notices were issued to workers on Friday.