BiFab jobs rally in Kirkcaldy
Organised by the STUC and trades unions GMB and Unite, the “Fife – Ready for Renewals” campaign will muster at the Town Square at 11:30 am on Saturday, September 14.
Campaigners will then march to the Old Kirk for a rally until 2.00 pm.
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Hide AdThe event is the latest bid to keep the pressure on energy companies EDF, Red Rock and SSE to provide meaningful contracts for BiFab’s yards in Burntisland which has been mothballed and Methil.
All three are working on major offshore wind farm developments in the North Sea.
Unions argue Fife has the skilled workforce to carry out the work and the jobs would breathe new life into the two yards which once employed hundreds of people.
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The march comes just one month after campaigners took their message to the Edinburgh headquarters of EDF in a bid to win a chunk of the company’s £2billion contract for the Neart na Gaoithe wind farm - which could see the work going abroad despite it being sited just 10 miles off the Fife coast.
Unions argue this sort of project is crucial to get BiFab up and running again.
It has failed to win any significant contracts since new owners DFBarnes - backed by the Scottish Government - stepped in last April.
The company has pledged it is in it for the long haul, despite cutting the workforce numbers to the bone.
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Hide AdBiFab’s Methil yard has won orders for eight turbines, creating 200 jobs at a yard which once employed significantly greater numbers.
Campaigners hops this latest rally - dubbed Fife: Fighting For Our Future - will keep the pressure on all three businesses to give Fife a share of ther work.
A spokesman said: “We have the yards, we have the workers and we have the community behind us.
“Fife urgently needs a plan to bring and retain decent jobs. Scotland, now more than ever, urgently needs good quality renewable jobs if we are to help tackle climate change.”