Unite demands Scottish and UK governments ‘pull out all the stops’ after first minister announcement for Grangemouth

Unite, the UK’s leading union, has demanded the UK government ‘pull out all the stops’ to support the Grangemouth refinery workforce and start producing sustainable air fuel (SAF) on site following extra investment announced by the first minister, John Swinney MSP, in parliament yesterday (18 February).

 

The first minister said the Scottish government would allocate an additional £25 million to establish a Grangemouth Just Transition Fund. The Scottish government claim it would take its financial commitment to £87m in total towards the Grangemouth industrial cluster.

 

Under the plans by Petroineos to close the refinery and establish an import terminal, the majority of the workers are set to leave Grangemouth, with job losses set to take effect in between three and 18 months.

 

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said “The extra money from the Scottish Government is welcome but workers in Grangemouth have already been let down and we will need more that this to fix the situation. Both the UK and Scottish governments must now pull out all the stops to ensure that we do not lose these refinery workers and their incredible skills.

Unite has a clear plan for the site to produce sustainable air fuel (SAF) and these workers have the skills to do that. As we heard following the Heathrow announcement, the UK government needs UK SAF production to meet its own green energy targets. So, I hope this announcement is a signal that politicians are finally going to stop dancing around their handbags and do everything needed to ensure that Grangemouth starts delivering SAF as soon as possible.”

Unite has established a clear pathway for the future of Grangemouth in line with the government’s own mandate to introduce the use of SAF. The plan demonstrates how other refineries in the world have been quickly transitioned to produce SAF and biofuels. This would begin with the co-production of SAF and petroleum, which will protect existing jobs and skills.

Rachel Reeves in her recent set piece growth speech highlighted how the support for Heathrow’s expansion was directly linked to the introduction of SAF for UK flights. However, this was not linked to a plan to transition Grangemouth to SAF production, and the government will be unable to meet its own target of SAF production by 2030 without it.

The redundancies are only for directly employed Petroineos workers. An impact assessment for PWC has found that the refinery makes an economic contribution of £403.6m and there are 2,800 workers reliant on the refinery. It is only the 500 directly employed workers who are currently finding out about their futures.

Unite Scottish secretary Derek Thomson said: “Unite welcomes all efforts to support the Grangemouth refinery workers including the extra investment announced by the first minister which we recognise as a step forward. We continue to press government on the urgency of the situation facing the workers because not enough has been done to support them.

“Scotland is facing an economic earthquake if the refinery is allowed to close. We are facing an estimated shock to the economy of up to £4 billion over the next decade before any of the jobs at scale promised through Project Willow will see the light of day”.

 Unite will continue to fight for the future of the refinery and the associated jobs. These Grangemouth refinery workers are critical to any just transition towards a green economy”

ENDS

Notes to Editor 

For media enquiries please contact Andrew Brady on 07810157922. Email andrew.brady@unitetheunion.org

Unite Scotland is the country’s biggest and most diverse trade union with around 150,000 members. The union is led in Scotland by Derek Thomson.