The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Union chief in plea to save jobs as BiFab tells staff of redundancies
closure: Marine engineering yards in Fife and Lewis will see 260 jobs go
Fife employees at crisis-hit BiFab will today be told that they are being dismissed.
Some 260 jobs are to go by early summer at the company’s marine engineering yards in Fife and Lewis which will close by the end of June.
These timescales can only be reversed if new contracts can be established for BiFab which was hauled back from the brink of administration in November.
Management at the yards told the trades unions yesterday that they will be issuing redundancy notices to the core workforce today.
Unite’s regional officer Bob McGregor said: “So much has been done to save these yards until now.
“The workers there have fought for their future and it is difficult to believe that it can now be snatched away from them.
“The closures of these yards will turn these areas into an industrial graveyard. “The prospect fills us with dismay.” The company filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators in November as a result of a payments dispute with a major sub-subcontractor on the Beatrice Windfarm contract for the Cromarty Firth.
The workers at BiFab occupied the yards and called for Scottish Government intervention to save them.
The Scottish Government stepped in at the last minute to secure a rescue deal and a financial package was agreed by Dutch contractors Seaway Heavy Lifting (SHL), SSE and project partners JCE Offshore.
BiFab management blamed cash-flow problems for its financial crisis.
Crews at the yards in Methil and Burntisland are currently working on jacket substructures for the Beatrice Windfarm contract, which was awarded to SHL.
However, that contract is now coming to a close and BiFab is running out of work.
There has also been open speculation that the yards may be taken over by a major Canadian concern but that has not been confirmed.
The BiFab management told the trades unions that the first redundancies would start in May and the closure would be completed by the end of June.
Mr McGregor said: “We can’t say this is a total shock because work at the yard has been running down for weeks now.
“However, all the interested parties, the company, the contractors, the unions and the Scottish Government, given what has been done so far, must surely look to have an eleventh hour intervention which can do something to save these jobs.”
Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, hosted a cross-party meeting on Wednesday at the Scottish Parliament to discuss the yards.
She said in a tweet: “After a Parliamentary show of support last week for BiFab workers this must be challenged – these jobs are vital for Fife economy and our future industry base.”
The closures of these yards will turn these areas into an industrial graveyard. UNITE REGIONAL OFFICER BOB MCGREGOR