Unite the Union raise concerns as Shell announce 80% maintenance job cuts at St Fergus gas plant
Union reps are concerned plans to pause some maintenance work could lead to safety issues.
Unite the union have raised 'critical' safety concerns over planned cuts to job by oil giant Shell at St Fergus gas plant terminal near Peterhead.
What Unite call 'vital maintenance jobs' are being proposed to be cut by more than 80%.
The proposals affecting Shell’s Northern Systems and Plants (NSP) operations will result in 46 out of 52 jobs being proposed for redundancy at St Fergus.
The trades impacted by the proposals include scaffold inspectors and supervisors, riggers and rigging supervisors, forklift drivers, general assistants and mechanical supervisors.
Unite has been in active consultation with the contractor Kaefer for weeks to stave off the compulsory redundancies, which are being enforced by the oil giant.
However, Shell remain intent on pressing ahead with the proposals despite Unite representatives at both plants raising major health and safety concerns over the current and future condition of the plants due to the dramatic reduction in staffing levels.
The trade union is also warning that fire and safety responses to any major incidents at the St Fergus could be severely impacted.
Vic Fraser, Unite industrial officer, said of the St Fergus proposals by Shell and their main contactor Kaefer: “Unite has been working hard for weeks to stave off these job cuts by Shell. Nearly 90 per cent of the jobs across vital trades are being proposed for the axe with some trades being totally wiped out on the site. It is not that there is no work to be carried out here, there is, but rather Shell have decided that the Fabric and Maintenance work on site will be paused perhaps until 2022."
"Alongside a backlog of maintenance work from earlier this year and you start to see our major concerns. We are always told safety comes first but our members are not only concerned for their livelihoods but fear for colleagues left to work there, the local community and any environmental impact a potential incident on site could have.”