ON Saturday August 3 the Keep Grangemouth Working campaign takes another step forward as the workforce, trade unionists and local community rally together to bring the fight to protect jobs at the refinery centre stage.
 
Last November, Petroineos who owns the refinery announced that it was considering plans to begin transitioning its refining operations sometime during 2025. Under the proposals, the refinery would then primarily become an import and export oil terminal facility.
 
Unite said at the time that we would leave no stone unturned to ensure a viable future for the refinery could be found while working hard to establish other low-carbon projects at the complex. Since then, the campaign has worked morning, noon and night to protect jobs.
 
I have been proud to work alongside dedicated people including our local Unite reps at Grangemouth who have never given up on the belief that there remains a positive future ahead.
 
I want to take the opportunity to place on record my thanks to our Unite reps for their resoluteness, intelligence and determination in this fight.
 
While the challenges that lie ahead cannot be underestimated, we equally believe that they are not insurmountable on the basis that all key stakeholders remain open to an extension.
 
On this front, we believe that this possibility remains alive. Unite is pushing hard to get everyone around the table including the British and Scottish governments along with ourselves and Petroineos.
 
This is vital because if you have ever been to the Grangemouth complex it is easy to quickly appreciate the sheer scale and importance it has for the local community and the wider Scottish economy.
 
Over 2,000 people are directly employed at Grangemouth including around 500 at the refinery, 450 on the Forties pipeline from the North Sea and a further 1,000 in the Ineos petrochemicals business. Not to mention the thousands more jobs in the wider supply chain.
 
According to estimates the oil refinery is responsible for 4 per cent of Scotland’s GDP and approximately 8 per cent of its manufacturing base.

The complex is also the primary supplier of aviation fuel for Scotland’s main airports, and it supplies around 70 per cent of the fuel to Scotland’s filling stations as well as Northern Ireland and northern England. By any measure these numbers relating to one industrial complex are massive.
 
Since Labour’s general election victory, Unite has seen a sea change in government attitude.

There now appears to be a genuine willingness by both the Westminster and Holyrood administrations to constructively work together along with Unite to find ways which can prevent the oil refinery from being added to the acts of industrial vandalism which have scarred our nation.
 
That’s why we have a growing belief that an extension in the lifespan of the oil refinery along with an acceleration of low-carbon projects can be delivered with active government support.
 
There have already been several “positive steps” following high-level talks involving our general secretary, Sharon Graham, with the British government. This includes the joint government funding of £1.6m for Project Willow, which will explore low-carbon projects at Grangemouth.
 
In the King’s speech (July 17), the Labour government also indicated that a Bill would be introduced to support sustainable aviation fuel production. Unite has campaigned to explore how sustainable aviation fuel could be developed at the refinery to support the whole of Scotland’s aviation sector.
 
Unite is on record saying that the first major test of the Just Transition process will be judged against what happens at Grangemouth. It is clear to us that the government has a vital role to play in strategically important national assets which are central to our manufacturing base and energy security.
 
Grangemouth, and other assets, can’t simply be left to the vagaries of the market or to internal commercial decisions which can change like the wind.
 
We need to get this right for the workers based at Grangemouth, and the tens of thousands more in the oil and gas sector that will follow. We cannot allow these workers to become the coalminers of our generation — and Unite will work tirelessly to ensure this doesn’t happen.
 
I encourage all Morning Star readers to rally behind the campaign’s simple but powerful message of extension, investment and transition. Let us unite and fight to keep Grangemouth working.
 
Derek Thomson is Unite Scottish secretary.