Shipyard's skilled workforce must be protected to secure its future

GMB Scotland has urged swift action to ensure Ferguson Marine will win future shipbuilding contracts.

The union has welcomed £14.2 million investment from the Scottish Government to modernise the Inverclyde yard and make it more competitive while voicing disappointment at ministers' decision to put seven small CalMac ferries out to tender.

Workers had hoped the nationalised yard would be directly awarded the first contracts in the small vessels replacement programme. The yard has signalled it will bid for the work, however, and for three more ferries, expected to be put out to tender in the second phase of the programme next year.

Louise Gilmour, GMB Scotland secretary, said that work will be crucial to secure a long-term future for the Inverclyde yard where procurement and design failures have blighted the building of two ferries in recent years.

She said: “There can be no shipyard without ships.

“The workforce at Ferguson Marine is committed, skilled and entirely blameless for the errors made in recent years.

“Those skills will be crucial if the yard is to have a secure future and if Scotland is to have a successful industrial strategy.

“This yard is capable of becoming a cornerstone of that strategy and protecting Scotland’s shipbuilding heritage for new generations of workers and apprentices.

“Their jobs must be secured while the yard becomes commercially competitive to ensure their skills are available when ships are again built there.

“This is an opportunity that must not be squandered and every pound of investment today must be spent to ensure the yard is swiftly in a position to win future contracts and secure skilled, well-paid jobs in Inverclyde for decades to come.”

She said there is an urgent need to win contracts for new ships to protect jobs and skills at the yard, adding: “This is a workforce that must be protected because only they can build a successful future for their yard.

“These workers and apprentices are shipbuilders with a wide range of specialist skills and trades. They know how to build ships and the Scottish Government must do everything in its power to keep them in place until they get the chance to build more.”

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes announced the investment in Ferguson Marine on Tuesday when the Scottish Government said: “The detail of the investment proposal is aimed at improving the productivity of the yard, including buying new and upgrading existing equipment."