BiFab Joint Trade Union Statement

Responding to the SSE announcement, BiFab Joint Trade Union Secretaries Gary Smith & Pat Rafferty said: 

“There really is no hope for a “green recovery” in Scotland or the rest of the UK as long we continue to receive little more than scraps from our own offshore wind market. 

“It is a scandal that bill payers are pouring billions of pounds into the pockets of renewable energy giants, private financiers and sovereign wealth funds, while the Contracts for Difference scheme demands no commitments to local job creation and industrial investment.

“This all ends up in the grotesque spectacle of mothballed manufacturing yards in places like Arnish, Burntisland and Methil which should be booming; this is what happens when working class communities pay the price of chronic political failure. 

“SSE has secured a substantial investment from a global energy giant to boost the delivery of a massive offshore wind farm project in the waters off the Angus coast - this should be a good news day and a sign of some much needed hope. 

“There is no jobs bonanza here. Our offshore wind sector is being built anywhere but Scotland and the UK - the world’s sixth largest producer of wind power - is haemorrhaging thousands of desperately needed jobs and billions of pounds of value to the rest of the world.” 

ENDS

Contact: GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.