GMB Scotland & Unite Scotland Joint Trade Union Statement

GMB Scotland & Unite Scotland Joint Trade Union Statement
 
Trade Unions vow to continue the ‘Battle for BiFab’ as new owners confirm redundancies

The joint trade unions in BiFab (GMB Scotland and Unite Scotland) have vowed to continue their campaign for the future of the yards in Fife and Lewis after new owners DF Barnes announced fresh redundancies this morning (Friday 4 May).

Senior executives from the Canadian fabrication firm told workers and their trade union representatives that statutory redundancy notices would be issued to thirty-five of the remaining forty-three core staff at noon.

This shock development comes less than three weeks after DF Barnes purchased BiFab following extensive negotiations with the Scottish Government.
Commenting on this morning’s announcement, Joint Trade Union Secretaries Gary Smith and Pat Rafferty said: “The scale and speed of these redundancies was not expected. It means that some workers will be out of a job as early as two weeks time and most will be gone in three months.

But the trade unions will not be found wanting and our battle for BiFab continues. We knew the road ahead would be hard and the need for new contracts is obvious but clearly a major problem has emerged in terms of the future prospects for fresh work over the last fortnight.

As a matter of urgency, we need to understand what those problems are and whether they can be overcome in the short term. We are working now with the employer and the Scottish Government to achieve this objective.”

ENDS

Contact: Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077 & Bob McGregor, Unite Scotland Organiser, on 07711 376918.