Grangemouth to close............

From what I have read and heard about this it seems that the workforce knew the plant was losing 10 million per month so how did they expect the company to continue trading. then to vote against the proposal that might have kept the plant running even if it meant they had to take a reduction in their wages was in my book a no brainer, are you not better with some wage than no wage. Shame for the folk who accepted the offer and the others deserve what they get.
 
Only the petrochemical plant is closing. The refinery is to re-open (for now).

It's hard to know what the truth is, Ineos say the plant is losing £10m per month and that change was needed in order to survive and invest, as many businesses in this economic climate have had to do (public sector workers will know all about that).
The unions pain a picture of evil against Ineos and all they stand for (full page ad in papers yesterday kind of felt like a public sympathy vote IMO) that is hard to know if it's true or not.

I have sympathy for the men and women that are going to lose thier jobs although surely if offered between a pay freeze & pension reduction (I mean we don't even know what the original pension terms were, they may well have been inflated) and not actually having a job, I know what I would be chosing, Union or not.

From what I have read, and actual info is scant, then Ineos don't seem to be blaming the workers, it's the Union bosses that seem to be in the firing line. Did they call Ineos' bluff and have it backfire?
Until the full facts come out I'm not sure either of us can say who or what has caused this.

One point though is that the calls for the government to step in are a bit much IMO, this is a private company. Yes the impact is huge but it is a private business venture that can chose where and when to do business surely.

This is just my opinion on the little that I know, right or wrong.
 
The refinery is also at significant risk as Ineos have previously intimated that the refinery is unlikely to continue if the petrochemicals plant closed.
 
Seen all this stuff before.
A pay freeze & pension re-structure wouldn't be anywhere near enough to stem £10 million a month losses, unless they intended to raid the pension fund big time (which is illegal now I think)

It doesn't smell right to me.
 
We need a 21st Century Jimmy Reid.

Looks like Great Britain is going down the pan.
No chance of the Tory's rushing in to save this one, like they did for their pals at the banks.
 
Feel sorry for anyone who loses or is going to lose their job. However is it really right to think that the Tories should bail out a company in a country that a grand total 1 mp got elected, only at the next election for nearly all of who they have helped to go and vote Labour or SNP or whoever else they vote for up there. Anyway I thought good old Gordon Brown started the bank bailout?
 
Pistol Peter said:
From what I have read and heard about this it seems that the workforce knew the plant was losing 10 million per month so how did they expect the company to continue trading. then to vote against the proposal that might have kept the plant running even if it meant they had to take a reduction in their wages was in my book a no brainer, are you not better with some wage than no wage. Shame for the folk who accepted the offer and the others deserve what they get.
Click to expand...

Yeh thats one way to look at it..........my point is simple, if they have no choice then tell them that, not after a vote.
 
We should be asking what effect a complete closure will have on the UK as a whole. How many of these type of plants do we have in the UK , and can they fill the gap that will be left.
Oh remember fill your tanks ASAP.
 
Tommo21 said:
Yeh thats one way to look at it..........my point is simple, if they have no choice then tell them that, not after a vote.
Click to expand...

Didn't the management get a blank from the Union, go direct to the workforce who wanted the deal, and found the Union insist that their members had to send the answers back via the Union?
 
williamalex1 said:
We should be asking what effect a complete closure will have on the UK as a whole. How many of these type of plants do we have in the UK , and can they fill the gap that will be left.
Oh remember fill your tanks ASAP.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that most of the refineries in the country lose money and are up for sale. I guess that closure of one or two would make others more profitable?
 
Doon frae Troon said:
We need a 21st Century Jimmy Reid.

Looks like Great Britain is going down the pan.
No chance of the Tory's rushing in to save this one, like they did for their pals at the banks.
Click to expand...

Gordon Brown a Tory now is he!? Labour bailed out the banks......

Don't know anything that's gone on at Grangemouth but never a good day when so many will lose their livelihoods.
 
the pension is/was a final pension scheme ie you get 60% of your final salary for the rest of your life, those are financial suicide for any company as in a lot of cases the pensioners (if they live another 15 years) they get out more than they pay in. For most workers the final salary is often their highest and can be substantially higher than they earnt 10 or 20 years earlier when they joined the scheme.

Companies cant afford to fund them hence the need to change to a contribution scheme where you get the financial reward for what you contribute.

I think Unite has to take the blame on this occasion as they were aware of the companies position and thought they could bully the company and this has now resulted in the loss of substantial jobs
 
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