Trade unions in Scotland have described the prospect of no work coming from 2 huge wind farm projects as ‘an absolute scandal’.
The Moray East and Kincardine offshore wind farm projects have a total value of around £2.8 billion and BiFab’s new Canadian owners DF Barnes have been actively pursuing contracts from both.
The fabrication work for five platforms supporting the Kincardine project have been awarded by procurement firm Cobra Wind International to the Spanish state shipbuilders Nevantia.
The Moray East project procurement firm GeoSea DEME has awarded contracts for 100 turbine jackets to UAE fabricators Lamprell and Belgian steel constructors Smulders.
Trade Unions GMB and Unite understand that DF Barnes remain in negotiations to secure a portion of the fabrications work from the contracts allocated to both Smulders and Nevantia.
In a joint statement, GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith and Unite Scotland Secretary Pat Rafferty said:
“There is a real possibility the yards in Fife could end up with nothing from the Moray East and Kincardine projects, which would be an absolute scandal.
“We believe DF Barnes and the Scottish Government are fighting hard to secure contracts but they are trying to negotiate their way through a spaghetti bowl of vested interest groups with established supply chains of preference.
“The truth is that state funded European energy and engineering firms, backed by Far East finance and Middle East sovereign wealth funds, are carving-up thousands of jobs and billions of pounds from our renewables sector.
“To working class communities in Burntisland and Methil this doesn’t look anything like a just transition or a green jobs revolution – it looks like a future that’s heavily rigged against their hopes for employment and prosperity.
“The immediate challenge for everyone is to try and break this international stranglehold on the Scottish renewables sector and get work and investment flowing into the Fife yards.”
Moray East is a 950MW offshore wind farm in the Outer Moray Firth, 40km from the North East Coast of Scotland. It is expected to be operational by 2022.
The Kincardine Offshore windfarm is due to be operational by 2020 and could be the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm.
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Perhaps if these same Unions had thrown their support, or at least stayed ‘NEUTRAL’ then we might not be in this predicament.
My comment should have read, “Perhaps if these same Unions had thrown their support behind Scottish Independence in 2014, or had at least stayed ‘NEUTRAL’, then we might not be in this predicament. They could also stop doing Scottish Labour’s dirty games e.g. calling women to strike in Glasgow yet they were the ones funding Court Case, after Court Case to prevent equal pay. I have one word for all of them, ‘HYPOCRITES’.
Agree with you Mr Gallagher, the union bosses are to blame, the ship building unions and the Glasgow council as well as the teachers unions should have supported independence.
Thank you John but please a little less formal, Charles or Charlie or Chas is fine, Mr Gallagher has me looking over my shoulder, LOL.
Mr Simpson and Mr Gallagher it is and was a deliberate attempt by Liebour and their unions in Scotland to obfuscate and denigrate the SNP SG . I am and have always been a trade unionist , but I have been horrified at the collusion of the unions in supporting liebours deliberate misrepresentations regarding the equal pay debacle .
Liebour in charge of GCC DELIBERATELY spent in excess of £1 million pounds in legal fees to frequently DENY their female employees the right to equal pay , yet when the council was lost to SNP control they immediately demanded that these women be paid equal pay and agitated the union members accordingly
Similarly when Bifarb was threatened with closure and the SNP SG sent in representatives to attempt to rescue the employees jobs , lo and behold who should turn up for a photo opportunity but liebours Dick Leonard in an attempt to claim credit
As the saying goes I NEVER LEFT LIEBOUR THEY LEFT ME THE WORKING CLASS
Robert, like you I was a life long member of my ‘Staff Association’ though in my case I joined the SNP when I was 16. However I genuinely feel your pain over Labour.