Budget must deliver for Mossmorran workers
The Scottish Government’s budget must deliver support for laid off Mossmorran workers, says the Scottish Greens co-leader, Ross Greer.
This follows repeated calls from the Greens for the Scottish Government to provide Fife with an equivalent to the Grangemouth transition funding announced after Ineos announced the closure of its refinery on the Forth.
In December, following questions from Ross, the First Minister committed to introducing a jobs fund to support workers. Receiving a grant from the fund will depend on businesses guaranteeing job interviews to workers made redundant by the Exxon plant’s closure.
Despite the First Minister’s initial acceptance of the Scottish Greens’ proposal, no further details of the plan have been published.
The Scottish Government had committed to developing a ‘just transition plan’ for Mossmorran 18 months ago, following pressure from the Scottish Greens. Despite repeated questions to the First Minister from Ross Greer, no plan has yet been published.
A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Greens showed no sign of that work having been done. It returned only a single document - a speech given by a Minister in response to a debate organised by Fife’s Green MSP, Mark Ruskell.
Ross said:
“It has been two months since Exxon announced the closure of their Mossmorran site in Fife. Hundreds of workers and their families have just spent Christmas knowing they will lose their jobs in a matter of weeks. And despite lots of warm words, the Scottish Government has made no real efforts to support them.
“These workers have been let down by Exxon, but they have also been let down by a Government that promised a transition plan 18 months ago and then made absolutely no efforts to actually come up with one.
"Greens and trade unions pushed hard for that plan because we all knew this closure was inevitable. Ministers cannot claim to have been taken by surprise.
“This week’s Scottish Government budget is an opportunity to make up for those wasted months and deliver on the promises made to Mossmorran workers and their communities. There isn’t time to waste. We cannot let what happened in Grangemouth be repeated in Fife.
“These workers need jobs to move into over the next few weeks. They are some of the most skilled in Scotland, and those skills can be used to deliver our wider transition away from fossil fuels and into green industries. But it will need commitment, resources and a clear and deliverable plan from the Scottish Government.”