Grangemouth Refinery: Scotland Shuts Down Half The Town
A Grangemouth refinery accident in Scotland shut down half the town today, leaving many with a choice to stay or go and find new jobs.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the US shutdown has seen some serious blowback from its own government shutdowns, on a much larger and more serious scale. But to the people of Grangemouth, it couldn’t be any more serious.
The Grangemouth refinery in Scotland is facing a purported loss of 800 of almost 1,400 jobs. Prime Minister David Cameron allegedly tried to stop the Grangemouth refinery closure, urging talks to continue, but Swiss owner Ineos shut the plant down anyway.
A member of staff claimed that Grangemouth Petrochemicals chairman Calum Maclean was “smiling” when he made the announcement. Mr Maclean has denied the allegation. Another worker, who didn’t want to be named, said:
“I feel sick. It’s gone. There’s no livelihoods left and we don’t even know if we’re going to get redundancy out of it. I hope they’re happy with themselves. There are folk in there have a husband and wife work here. That’s it. Folk will be lucky if they have a house at Christmas”
The worker, who was close to tears at points, said he could only stand about 10 minutes of the meeting, before he had to leave.
Frances O’Grady of the Trades Union Congress, a group of British unions, had scathing criticism for Ineos’s actions:
“This is a savage blow to the Grangemouth workforce and the wider Scottish economy. This is irresponsible capitalism at its worst”
This plant is considered by many to be important for the Scottish economy, but for those employed by the company in Grangemouth it is absolutely essential. Either directly or indirectly, it provides for every single job in the town. Furthermore, the refinery provides most of the fuel to Scotland, the north of England and Northern Ireland.
Ineos has said the Grangemouth refinery could potentially be reopened, but was dependent on a lack of threat of industrial action, that is, union and government pressure.
What do you think of the Grangemouth refinery shutdown in Scotland?
