Trade union says Grangemouth can have a ‘positive future'
but decisive action needed to support sustainable air
fuel (SAF) hub
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, 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.
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”
