Scottish Labour Party conference see’s Union protest Grangemouth with 400 yellow hard hats
By Ella Hayward
Protesters from Scotland’s last oil refinery battled the stormy weather to lay 400 hard hats outside the Scottish labour conference to represent all the jobs at risk.
Petroineos confirmed the refinery would be closing its doors late last year after failing to compete with sites in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Workers were only told about these plans in September last year and many are horrified at the thought it could close as early as May.
The company is going to safeguard fuel supply by converting the site into an import terminal. However, this would require less than 100 workers compared to the nearly 500 currently employed there. Redundancy letters have already been sent to hundreds of workers.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised £200million in funding for this transition from the UK’s National Wealth Fund. Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour hopes this will bring in further “transformative” funding from the private sector.
Workers, members of the Unite Union and members of the public gathered outside the Glasgow SEC venue on Saturday where the conference was held to express their feelings regarding the sites closure.
However, the rain did not dampen their spirits as they chanted “you said our refinery was your top priority” and “keep Grangemouth working”. Many of the workers also sported flags with similar expressions.
Cecil Meiklejohn the leader of Falkirk Council said “I do believe that the workers should be concerned as there have been a lot of promises made, with little tangible action. The announcement by Kier Starmer on the £200m investment is coming very late in the day”. She also assured that Falkirk Council will continue to work with both governments to deliver a smooth Transition.
The UK government have committed to a report called the Willow Project to look at the future of the site as well as £100million to the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth Deal. This deal is to support those who have lost their jobs and help them gain skills in the process.
Trade Unions have indicated that neither government have put in enough effort to save the plant.
The general secretary of Unite Union, Sharon Graham told the Press Association that she believed Grangemouth could be saved.
“Let’s be really clear, Grangemouth can be saved, but I’m saying to all politicians today, if they do not do that, then it will never be forgotten and it will never be forgiven-
“What they need to do is to get round the table and to discuss how they are going to deal with what’s happening in Grangemouth”
Ms Graham suggested that she feels history is repeating itself in her demonstration. As if speaking to Scottish Labour she cautioned them to not let oil and gas workers in the UK become “the new coal miners”.
