BiFab unions have “no confidence or trust” in government after DF Barnes hit back at Ministerial claims
GMB Scotland & Unite Scotland Joint Union Statement
For immediate distribution: Friday 27 November 2020
BiFab unions have “no confidence or trust” in government after DF Barnes hit back at Ministerial claims
Following this morning’s (Friday 27 November) response from BiFab’s Canadian owners DF Barnes / JV Driver to the claims made by the Joint Statement of the Scottish and UK Government of Tuesday 24 November, the Scottish Secretaries of GMB and Unite, Gary Smith and Pat Rafferty, said:
“DF Barnes point the finger of blame at the Scottish Government and until the Minister shares the legal advice which prompted the decision to walk away from BiFab, there can be no confidence or trust in this process.
“This is a growing scandal and the choreography of the joint government statement wasn’t lost on us, excluding unions and the employer while slipping the bad news under the announcement of the COVID Christmas guidelines. This was an act of bad faith and made a mockery of the so-called fair work agenda.
“Scotland expects this type of behaviour from Boris Johnson and the Tories but it reflects very badly on Nicola Sturgeon and Fiona Hyslop, and they can no longer cry grievance at Westminster over the failure in offshore wind when they are now acting in unison.
“The signal this sends out to the renewables industry is very clear, it’s business as usual. The jobs of the future will continue to be exported to the rest of world and subsidised by the bill payer to the tune of billions.
“At best Britain will get scraps off the table from its own offshore wind market but it looks like both governments have buried any credible hopes for a meaningful green jobs recovery in Scotland.”
ENDS
Contact: GMB Scotland Communications on 07976 447077.
Notes to Editors:
“BiFab Working Group - Statement from the Scottish and UK Governments”, Tuesday 24 November 2020, access at: BiFab Working Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
