WE celebrated May Day earlier this week at an incredibly important point in Scotland’s recent history.

There is a new first minister on the way, probably new Scottish Parliament elections along with a UK general election on the horizon.

Never has the voice of working people and trade unions been more necessary to the political and industrial debate in Scotland. 

One of the biggest tests for politicians that Unite will be setting out is what are they as individuals, and their parties, doing to support the 500 highly skilled jobs based at the Petroineos oil refinery at Grangemouth.

According to estimates, the Grangemouth complex contributes 4 per cent of Scottish GDP and makes up approximately 8 per cent of Scotland’s manufacturing base. 

The Scottish government’s position is to support the continuation of the oil refinery’s operations for as long as possible, and this is also allegedly the UK government’s position. Yet both administrations have done next to nothing about laying out in clear terms how they intend to extend the lifespan of the oil refinery beyond 2025. 

Rather, the politicians seem to have accepted the unusual “fate” that they are powerless. Despite a litany of examples to the contrary of government intervention, ministers at Holyrood and Westminster have stated that a strategically vital national asset will be left to the anarchic impulses of “market conditions” and “commercial decisions.”

This is despite the refinery in its latest pre-tax profit posting a record £107.5 million.

The position of the Scottish government has been lamentable at best. We have had barely any engagement with the Scottish government over the oil refinery. 

It’s staggering that Cabinet Secretary Mairi McAllan has not found the time to visit the complex and have a face-to-face meeting with the workforce in order to explain how the Scottish government is attempting to protect jobs.

It simply isn’t good enough.

The UK government and the Scottish Conservatives, despite all their boasts about supporting oil and gas workers, have done absolutely nothing over the future of the refinery. 

Unite requested meetings with the Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, but he has refused outright to meet us and the workforce.

The Secretary of State seems to believe that monthly Zoom meetings organised by the Grangemouth Industrial Just Transition [to sustainable energy generation] Leadership Forum (IJTLF) is the maximum effort required by him to help protect 500 highly skilled jobs at Grangemouth. 

The Scottish Conservatives have been posted missing throughout this whole process. Douglas Ross should be utterly ashamed that his colleagues in the UK government and in Scotland haven’t lifted one finger to help protect these jobs. Make no mistake, Unite will hold them to account for their abject failure.

I can’t stress enough that what happens at the Petroineos oil refinery over the coming months is of major national importance.

As a nation we need to ask, what does it say about Scotland’s economic priorities if the Grangemouth oil refinery is allowed to close on the current timeframe

Would it not be a strategic miscalculation of epic proportions to allow Scotland to become the only major oil-producing nation without the capability of actually refining that product?

We also need to seriously think through the significant implications for energy security if we stop refining oil? Will this not leave us in the situation of being potentially held to ransom by other foreign governments and global corporations, and ironically having to rely on fuel imports. 

What is happening at Grangemouth is the epicentre of the wider dilemma playing out across Scotland in terms of a Just Transition.

The reality across our lands and in our seas is a worrying one. The latest figures published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the number of jobs created in the low-carbon and renewables sector has contracted over the last year in Scotland. 

Overall, employment in low-carbon and renewables was estimated to stand at 25,700 in 2022. This is substantially down from the 29,700 jobs in 2021. The overall jobs total in 2022 stands barely above the jobs total estimate in 2014 of 23,200. 

In the offshore wind sector, 3,100 jobs were estimated for Scotland in 2022, down from 3,200 jobs in 2021 — 3,100 jobs were also estimated for the onshore wind sector in 2022, down from 3,500 in 2021.

The figures are in stark contrast with the SNP-led Scottish government in 2010 promising 28,000 direct jobs in the offshore wind industry alone by 2020, and a further 20,000 jobs in related industries.

In another setback for the Scottish government, a setback which has been the catalyst for the current political crisis, ministers were forced to ditch the target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent in 2030. The annual emissions reduction target has been missed in eight out of the last 12 years.

It’s critical to state that despite supporting an extension and further investment into the Grangemouth oil refinery, we also want to see hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and biofuels projects being supported and brought on stream faster.

Unite is at the forefront of demanding cleaner and greener jobs for the long term.  

The hard truth is that we do not see any coherent and co-ordinated energy diversification strategy by government — and there is certainly not one which is worker-led.  

Those in government, and aspiring to be, must bring forward fully funded proposals which make a Just Transition a reality not a pipedream for oil and gas workers. 

We need concrete and fully costed plans which provide cast iron guarantees for workers that they will not be thrown off a platform in the transition to net zero. 

We cannot and Unite will not allow these workers to become the coalminers of our generation, and for us this battle starts at Grangemouth. Our message is simple but crystal clear: Keep Grangemouth working.

Derek Thomson is Unite Scottish secretary.