Lost jobs blamed on BiFab’s new owners

Mass redundancies at BiFab yards in Fife and Lewis have been blamed on the Scottish Government being “misled” by the company’s new owners.

All frontline staff in Methil, Burntisland and Arnish will be laid off under the buyout, a union spokesman said yesterday, leaving only management jobs.

He said the new owners, Canadian-based JV Driver, which acquired the business via its DF Barnes subsidiary, are shedding union employees in favour of agency staff.

The statement said: “The main reason clients put contracts into the yards is the shop floor workforce who have proved that they are responsible, flexible and highly skilled.”

“The workforce also believes that the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the union have been misled by BiFab and Barnes management during the process of trying to save the yards.”

This was echoed by Scottish Labour’s economy spokeswoman Jackie Baillie, who said: “The position at BiFab is deeply concerning and raises serious questions about the government’s recent handling of the crisis.

“Laying off the highly skilled core workforce would devastate families and communities and lead to a loss that would be impossible to replace.”

Nobody from JV Driver was available for comment.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are in regular contact with BiFab.

“We have made a long-term investment in the company, however we do not participate in operational management decisions.

“We have confidence that everything possible is being done to secure new contracts and restore employment levels.”

Frontline staff in Methil and Burntisland will be laid off.