WORKERS at Scotland’s only oil refinery vowed to fight for its future this weekend, warning that closure would leave a “just transition” from fossil fuels in tatters.
A march organised by general union Unite saw workers at Grangemouth refinery joined by hundreds of supporters from the community and further afield.
With a brass band and union banners from across Britain, workers marched from the Petroineos-owned complex through the town of Grangemouth to a rally, where union leaders and politicians urged the community to join the fight.
Unite’s convener at Grangemouth Chris Hamilton described the site as “the beating heart of industrial Scotland,” and asked: “If a just transition can’t be delivered here, will it be delivered anywhere?”
Stating that more than 70 per cent of the workforce lived in Grangemouth and its immediate surrounding area, he said: “The one thing that runs common throughout this workforce, however they’ve come to work at the site, is their locality and connection to this area.”
PetroIneos, a joint venture between British oil magnate Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos and Chinese state-owned firm PetroChina, announced in November that Grangemouth would be converted to an oil terminal for imports.
Most of the 500-strong staff, as well as hundreds of contractors, could lose their jobs if closure goes ahead. No date has been set for shuttering refining capacity at Grangemouth, but it was previously stated that work could be complete by spring 2025.
Speaking at the rally, Unite Scotland secretary Derek Thomson said: “We’re not going to sit by while the heart of this community is ripped apart. We won’t sit back and allow workers to be thrown on the scrapheap, and we will hold all those in power to account to safeguard the jobs in this community.”
Former Alba MP Kenny MacAskill described the campaign to keep Grangemouth open as “the major industrial struggle of our age,” warning: “If things continue as they are and Grangemouth closes, Scotland will be the only major oil-producing country in the world not to have any refining capacity.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland just transition campaigner Rosie Hampton said: “Make no mistake, Grangemouth is the litmus test of the just transition.
“Ineos’s proposals to move to an import terminal is not a cause for environmental celebration. By moving to imports they’re decimating jobs and they offshore emissions, making it someone else’s problem as if the crisis we face isn’t a global climate crisis needing a global just transition.
“Let me be clear that the only people that are happy with this proposal are the billionaire Ineos shareholders. Because there is absolutely no divide and no animosity between the environmental movement and the trade union and labour movement.”
Union reps have welcomed an increased interest in the fate of Grangemouth since Labour came to power at Westminster. The British and Scottish governments have allocated £1.6m for “Project Willow,” which will explore whether sustainable aviation fuel and other biofuel products could be refined at Grangemouth.
Alloa and Grangemouth MP Brian Leishman, who was elected for Labour last month, said: “What we are talking about is people’s livelihoods and people’s families.
“It’s a test of whether we have learned the devastating lessons of what happens to communities when industry closes.
“The myth that the refinery isn’t profitable is exactly that — a myth. The wealth generated by the workers here is enormous.”
PetroIneos was approached for comment.
