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Five men who worked loading and unloading shipments for Vestas Celtic lost their jobs. |
MORE jobs have been lost at the Vestas Celtic factory in Kintyre.
The wind turbine tower manufacturer has laid off five men from its transport department; their work saw them supervise the unloading of raw materials and the loading of the finished tower sections onto ships.
This work took them not just to Campbeltown harbour, but also to ports all over the UK and Ireland.
‘There’s five of us been laid off,’ one of the workers who did not wish to be named said.
‘We knew something was going on,’ he added, ‘but we’re all surprised at the way it happened.’
The redundant workers have claimed that Vestas Celtic had suggested it would try and find work for them in house, in another part of its UK operation and have meetings and consultations with them and help them to find work.
‘That just has not happened,’ said one worker. ‘I hope this isn’t the beginning of more jobs going at Vestas, that it doesn’t snowball.’
Now some of the men are planning to set themselves up in business as stevedores, in Campbeltown and elsewhere they can get work.
‘If we don’t load or unload the ships it is going to cost Vestas double or treble the money to hire people in to do the job,’ said one of the men.
Jim Mather MSP for Argyll and Bute is also the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism.
He told The Courier: ‘Given that I am involved in politics to increase economic growth it is depressing to see more people facing redundancy: especially in Campbeltown where so many jobs have been lost in the recent past.
‘Whilst, I will be contacting HIE to ensure that they do all they can to help the people involved find new employment, I will also continue to work to improve local prospects and the potential for the renewable energy sector. He added: ‘I would hope that the recent move to eliminate business rates from smaller businesses will also help the likes of Opportunity Kintyre to get more local businesses up and running and I stand ready to help that and other local initiatives.’
The Courier contacted Vestas Celtic’s head office in the UK and the firm’s headquarters in Denmark to ask if they wished to make a comment.
