Engineering workers have been dealt a fresh blow with up to 140 jobs facing the axe barely a week since a rescue deal averted a company administration. Staff at the Burntisland Fabrication – Bifab – yard in the Outer Hebrides are to be laid off before Christmas as it has almost run out of work. Bifab, which also has two sites in Fife, fell into trouble after running out of cash while building £100 million of foundation structures for the Beatrice offshore wind farm in the Moray Firth. The company was involved in a dispute with the main contractor for the turbine construction, a Dutch company called Seaway Heavy Lifting. A financial package was put together to stop Bifab going under and preserve 1,400 jobs after intervention from the Scottish government. But the site at Arnish, near Stornoway on Lewis, is close to finishing its part of the contract and there is no more work on the horizon. The loss of jobs will be a blow to the workers themselves as well as the fragile economy on the island. More than 90 per cent of the staff employed at the yard are understood to be agency staff.
Times 28th Nov 2017 read more »
Economy Secretary Keith Brown has pledged to fight for the future of the renewable energy manufacturing yard in the Western Isles which came “extremely close” to collapse in recent days.
Energy Voice 28th Nov 2017 read more »
