GMB Scotland calls for action not excuses to protect Ferguson Marine
The biggest union at Ferguson Marine has warned needless delays in awarding new contracts will sabotage the future of Scotland’s publicly-owned shipyard.
GMB Scotland spoke out as MSPs called on ministers to act with new urgency to deliver the investment and orders needed to secure the future of the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde.
Louise Gilmour, GMB Scotland secretary, said a Public Audit Committee report debated at the Scottish Parliament today had fired an emergency flare over Fergusons but been ignored by ministers.
The union is leading the Fight for Fergusons community campaign for the yard to replace the Lord of the Isles, the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry built at in Port Glasgow in 1989. Gilmour said that contract must be directly and urgently awarded.
She said: “The public audit committee could not have sounded the alarm more loudly over the future of Ferguson Marine.
“Its report demanded swift and effective action from the Scottish Government but, in the six months since, we have heard only excuses and seen no action at all.
“From John Swinney down, ministers have taken turns to wring their hands and tell us how complicated it is. It is, however, only as complicated as they want it to be.
“Scotland has a publicly-owned shipyard which successfully built small ferries for generations and a publicly-owned ferry company that urgently needs them. It is not that complicated.
“If the Scottish Government has a plan for Ferguson Marine, it is beyond time to reveal it. If it has not, why not?
“The islanders of Scotland and the skilled workers of Ferguson Marine need far better than this and they need it urgently.”
The public audit committee, led by Richard Leonard MSP, said there was plenty potential work for Fergusons but only a fraction of the £14.2million promised by the Scottish Government to upgrade the yard has been delivered so far.
The committee's report said the reputation of the yard and its workforce had been unfairly damaged by overspends and delays to the two CalMac ferries most recently built there and called for workers and their union to have a louder voice in the boardroom.
Gilmour said: “We are grateful to the committee and its leadership for this important report and their work unpicking the mistakes and missteps that led us here.
“Responsibility for those errors can be shared by previous ministers, managers and many others stretching back years but the committee could not have been clearer that a skilled and committed workforce is entirely blameless.
“Those workers deserve the opportunity to rebuild the reputation of a yard that has successful built ships on the Clyde for more than 100 years but that will require far greater urgency, ambition and support than we are seeing right now."
ENDS
