GMB: Halt absurd decision to block Fergusons from work

The refusal to allow Scotland's publicly-owned shipyard to bid for a ferry contract "beggars belief" and must be reversed, according to GMB Scotland.

Ferguson Marine, the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde, cannot bid to replace MV Lord of the Isles because of conditions imposed by ferries procurement agency, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL).

The yard buit the original Lord of the Isles in 1989 and GMB last year led a community-backed campaign calling on ministers to make a direct award of the contract to replace the CalMac ferry.

Instead, CMAL has effectively ruled out Fergusons - and every other UK shipyard - by insisting only firms that have bult two ships longer than 75m in the last five years can bid.

The GMB union said it "beggars belief" and called on the board of CMAL - which is owned by Scottish ministers and spends taxpayers' money - to halt the tendering process before justifying their decision to newly elected MSPs after the election next month.

The union, the biggest at Ferguson Marine, in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, said it was convenient for CMAL and ministers that the decision to block the yard from bidding emerged during an election campaign when there is less political scrutiny.

Louise Gilmour, GMB Scotland secretary, said CMAL must now immediatly halt he tendering process to explain why Fergusons - once Scotland's ferry factory, building a third of CalMac's current fleet - and other UK yards have been sidelined because of CMAL's clear determination to send the work abroad.

She said: “It beggars belief that a Scottish public body would bar a publicly-owned Scottish shipyard from even bidding to build a Scottish ferry.

“It might make sense in the boardroom of CMAL but absolutely nowhere else.

“There could not be a clearer example of the self-harming procurement policies that have sabotaged our country’s industrial capability and economic growth for too long."

GMB Scotland has accused public procurement rules of failing to ensure the social and economic value to Scottish workers and their communities is properly valued in the tendering process before contracts are offshored.

Gilmour said: “There can be no other country in the world as happy to send contracts abroad instead of using them to support jobs, apprenticeship and communities at home.  

“Islanders deserve a world-class ferry service and taxpayers value for money but the bottom line of any bid means nothing if the social and economic value to our communities is not properly taken into account.

“The CMAL board is, of course, unelected but remains accountable and must immediately pause this tendering process until it can be explained to our new MSPs.”