A WORKFORCE, loyal and prepared to adapt its skills to meet the demand of a “just transition”, is now facing mass redundancies as another phase of deindustrialisation in Scotland is ushered in with the closure of the country’s only oil refinery next year.

For Grangemouth and the surrounding communities of Bo'ness, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire, built on a proud history of mining and industrial works, this cruel fate for its people is nothing new.

On Thursday morning, the owners of the oil refinery, Petroineos (Ineos), announced the site will shut down by the summer of next year, warning that only 75 of its 475-strong workforce will keep their jobs for the next two years.

The shock announcement has been a gut punch to those who have endlessly campaigned since Ineos announced in November last year the plans to wind down operations due to a decline in business despite registering pre-tax annual profits of £107.4 in 2023.

READ MORE: John Swinney meets with Grangemouth workers as refinery to cease operations

“You’ll not get anyone to speak today, mate,” I was told as I walked through the heart of the town centre in Grangemouth just hours after the news broke across Scotland.

“Business will continue as normal,” a statement posted online by the oil firm read, but it wasn’t “business as usual” for the people in Grangemouth.

There was a clear blue sky with the sun beating down on Thursday afternoon, but there was an eerie cold chill around the place, the heartbreak and hurt by all those affected by the news was palpable.

I spoke to around a dozen people, and they had all been affected in some way by the announcement, be that directly as an employee or a family member working at the plant or as a business that supplied goods or services for Ineos.

It’s not just the 400 people who are directly employed by Ineos that will feel the effect of the plant ceasing production, it’s the thousands of jobs built around the oil refinery too.

“It’ll be a real shockwave, to the surrounding area, definitely,” said one local business owner, George Burden (below).

(Image: NQ)

He owns Pitstop in the town centre, a vehicle parts shop, and explained that with the announcement of the refinery closing it will most likely be the end of his own business.

“A lot of these businesses in the surrounding area support Ineos and it’s a rug getting pulled from under their feet.

“There'll be a lot more losses of jobs out with Ineos as well.”

He explained that his dad used to work with chemicals at the plant and he stressed the impact the closure will have on the local communities.

Burden said: “All the businesses in the surrounding area will be greatly affected.

“It’s a huge part of the community, everything revolves around that, there will certainly be a knock-on effect,” he added.

It became increasingly more difficult to get anyone willing to speak on the record about the news, “what can you say, what will they do now,” one woman told me.

Another person said: “They were promised the Government would keep it open, just like the miners were, look what’s happened.”

(Image: NQ)

With each rejection, I could feel the anger and hurt deep inside. It wasn’t the case they didn’t have anything to say, they all had plenty to talk about off the record, the community was just raw and reeling from the news.

Nariese Whyte, a resident of Bo'ness, explained how there had been a lot of stress amongst workers and how it is already “a real struggle to get a job in the local area” never mind one that pays as well and is as skilled as the ones at the oil refinery.

They had stood in the last general election as a candidate in the area for the Scottish Greens and spoke at great lengths about the importance of the oil refinery and how closing it without any measures in place for its workforce would be devastating.

“There's a lot of stress as it's a very specific skill set that is required to work there,” Whyte said.

“The feeling on the ground is, I've now got less than a year to try and find other work that is as local, that is as valuable and rewarding, and that has a similar pay scale.”

Workers and members of the trade union Unite have been vocal about the lack of transparency in the conversations between Inoes and the UK and Scottish governments.

The lack of communication and clarity around the whole situation for the last 10 months has been an added frustration and stress to those employed by Ineos.

As Whyte said: “It's clear that the workers are the bottom rung of the ladder when it comes to this.

“The workforce itself just wasn't included [in conversations], and there's been no transparency around the issue there, and it's very much left them in the dark,” they added.

Dr Ewan Gibbs (below), a senior lecturer in political and international studies at the University of Glasgow, said workers and communities have every right to be disappointed over the closure.

He also said that if Scotland is to have a green future in renewable energy, then Grangemouth and its workforce should be involved.

He said: “They’re a skilled workforce that has demonstrated a willingness to take part in an energy transition.

“Grangemouth is an important hub of skills, training, and possibilities in Scotland. If there's going to be a future in renewables, it should involve Grangemouth.”

Dr Gibbs added that the closure of the oil refinery won’t do any favours in bestowing confidence in the rest of the industry in Scotland.

READ MORE: Grangemouth worker rescue package worth £100m unveiled by SNP and Labour

It sets a worrying precedent, as a “just transition” away from oil and gas to renewables is the complete opposite of what the workers in Grangemouth are facing. 

He said: “I don't know what workers in the oil and gas industry in the North Sea can feel about all that.

“They can hope they can cling onto their jobs for as long as possible because this doesn't look like a story of a positive transition.

“Grangemouth is a manufacturing site, it has the skill base, it has the potential to deliver a renewable future.

“So, if it's not going to happen in Grangemouth, why would it happen in Shetland or Orkney or Huntley or Peterhead or Aberdeen?”

(Image: PA)

The Just Transition committee was formed in no small part off the back of the memory of the 1980s and 1990s and the understanding that Scotland can't have a repeat of what happened in coal mining, steelmaking and shipbuilding towns, according to Dr Gibbs.

“At a rhetorical level, there's a strong awareness of this, but it's not being followed through with effective policy commitments or practice,” he said.

Dr Gibbs said that the workers at Ineos have been cruelly punished for their loyalty when they could have left to work for competing companies in countries like Dubai.

READ MORE: 'Serious' international buyer for Grangemouth oil refinery in talks, SNP MSP says

He added one of the main reasons why they have shown such loyalty is the fact they have rooted themselves and their families in the local communities and it’s these communities which are going to face harsh suffering when the site closes.

“It seems to me especially cruel, really, that a workforce that's shown long-term commitment is actually effectively being punished for that,” he said.

“You can't help but think they'll be members of the workforce thinking they should have jumped ship before that.”

The MSP for Central Scotland, Gillian Mackay (below), grew up in Grangemouth and lived about 200 yards from the refinery.

She has been a constant voice in support for the workers and the local community around Ineos as she knows first-hand the importance of keeping the oil refinery to the surrounding communities.

Once Mackay had finished in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday, she went straight home to check on those in her local community who had been affected.

She echoed the anxiety and upset the announcement of a closing date has caused as she said: “There was a level of disbelief that we now actually have a date for it to happen.

“There have obviously been demands before from Ineos about the refinery potentially facing closure, and they never came to anything because the demand was met and on we went.

READ MORE: John Swinney issues statement following news of Grangemouth's closure

“So, the fact that we actually have a closing date for the refinery this time I think has taken a lot of people by surprise.”

The representative for Central Scotland for the Scottish Greens added: “There is a lot of hurt.

“There's a lot of real uncertainty as well, about what it means for the town as a whole.

“I still see communities across Lanarkshire who've never quite recovered from the loss of coal and other industries and the potential of this happening all over again for a town like Grangemouth, it’s kind of something I think a lot of people thought was consigned to the past and it couldn't possibly happen.”