Babcock slashes workforce at Scotland's Rosyth shipyard
Updated : 13:36
Engineering and defence firm Babcock International is making 150 workers at its Rosyth shipyard in Dunfermline redundant, which unions blamed on the government giving Royal Navy fleet contracts to international rivals and delays on the Type 31e frigate.
A Babcock spokesperson said the prospects for the Rosyth operations "remain strong with great opportunities", but the job cuts were a continuation of the restructuring process begun last year.
“Having assessed our current workload and medium term opportunities, we anticipate the loss of around 150 specific roles which are no longer needed in line with the rundown of the programme," the spokesperson said, adding that the consultation process would look to redeploy or relocate as many employees as possible within the group.
In November, the Ministry of Defence contractor said it was permanently closing its 163-year old shipyard at Appledore, Devon, which was blamed by workers on the loss of a contract to Italian yard Fincantieri.
Steve Turner, assistant general secretary for manufacturing at trade union Unite, said: “The men and women whose skills built the UK’s two new world leading aircraft carriers at Rosyth are at risk of being lost for a generation in a blow to the Scottish economy and UK shipbuilding."
He said the job losses at Rosyth and the closure of the Appledore shipyard will worry shipyard workers across the UK.
“The fear is that these job losses at Rosyth could turn into a flood and the industry left with a yawning skills gap unless the UK government starts supporting UK Plc by delivering on a shipbuilding strategy that guarantees the Royal Navy’s new auxiliary ships are block built in UK shipyards using British steel, in addition to bringing forward work on the Type 31e frigate for export around the globe.
“It would be a gross betrayal of a skilled workforce and British manufacturing if the government continued with its obsession to award such work to overseas shipyards and deny manufacturing and communities in the UK the economic benefits that building the Royal fleet auxiliary ships would bring.”