By Aileen Robertson and Lars Niven

JUST DAYS after winning two major contracts Rosyth dockyard has been hit with a devastating jobs blow.

Babcock International announced yesterday that 290 staff will be made redundant.

The engineering firm said the cuts were part of a “restructuring” process to safeguard the future of the dockyard. It means the workforce has been reduced to just over 1500.

A 90-day consultation with trades unions has now begun—but one union, the Transport and General Workers, vowed it would fight for every job at the Fife yard.

The news comes less than a week after Rosyth celebrated being awarded a contract to refit the naval ships Edinburgh and Walney that should have safeguarded hundreds of jobs.

It has also won contracts to build part of the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport.

Babcock chief executive Peter Rogers described the redundancies as “regrettable” but said new contracts would secure the dockyard’s future.

“Winning this work in the face of stiff competition is excellent news for Rosyth and demonstrates that the continuing drive to reduce costs and increase efficiency can result in contract wins,” he said.

A spokesperson for Babcock said an agreement had been drawn up with the Ministry of Defence when the firm bought the dockyard from the MoD in the 1990s. As a result the MoD will cover most of the cost of the redundancies.

Jack Dromey, the TGWU’s deputy general secretary, said, “This is a sad day at the end of what promised to be a good week for Rosyth.

“We fought and won new work for the dockyard.

“It is wrong that the company should then reduce the workforce, because that will mean too many contractors and too few directly employed workers.

“The unions will fight for every job and resist any moves for compulsory redundancy.”

The union was at the forefront of the battle to save Rosyth from closure in 1992, when the dockyard won a 13-year allocation of refit and maintenance work.

Its senior organiser in Scotland, Raymond Wilson, was also shocked at the news.

He said, “Quite clearly this announcement comes as a shock to Scotland again with regards to manufacturing.

“The Government should have a strategy in place like many European counterparts to protect jobs in the manufacturing industry.

“Quite clearly this will have a major, major effect on the Fife economy.”

Alex Thomson, deputy leader of Fife’s ruling Labour administration, said the council would do what it could to help those affected by the announcement.

“This has been a week of highs and lows for the people of Rosyth and employees of Babcock,” he added.

“On Monday there was good news as Rosyth won the contract to refit two naval vessels, HMS Edinburgh and HMS Walney, but that turned sour today.

“My thoughts are with the workforce. Any job losses are always a bitter blow to a community, and Rosyth has suffered more than its fair share.

“But the town and its people have proved in the past to be strong and resilient and, I’m sure, will prove to be again.”

Officials from the council and a number of other agencies involved in the redundancy response team were already holding talks with management at the dockyard.

Politicians also reacted to the jobs blow.

Dunfermline West MP Rachel Squire said the news was devastating, although not entirely unexpected.

“It is sad, especially as we started the week so well with the award of the contract to refit four warships, including HMS Edinburgh, to Rosyth,” she added.

“However, I am aware from the trade unions that some level of redundancies wasn’t unexpected. Given the drive towards competition and efficiency and the very tough market, they knew it would be likely that there would be further reductions in the workforce.”

Ms Squire said it was vital over the next few years that Babcock retained the necessary skills base to be able to carry out work on the planned super aircraft carriers.

The Government confirmed earlier this week that the project would go ahead, although no decision has yet been made as to where these ships will be built.

The likely start date is around 2007.

Rosyth is just one of a number of yards across Britain that could be involved and the MP said she had been lobbying hard to make sure it was awarded a share of the work.

“I am constantly raising it with the major companies involved and with the defence ministers,” she added.

“They keep assuring me they are doing all they can to ensure that a major share of the future aircraft carrier project work goes to Rosyth.

“However, it isn’t written in tablets of stone, or a formal contract, and I won’t rest until it is.”

Tricia Marwick, SNP MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said, “Babcock and Rosyth is a big employer and naturally any redundancies are going to affect the wider community.”

She added, “Perhaps a bit more certainty about where the orders are going might have in the short term provided cover at the yard and would have allowed Babcock to keep these people on.”

The Conservatives’ economy spokesman Murdo Fraser feared that unless the Government changed its policies there would be more job losses.

He added, “The recent announcement of cuts to the size of our naval fleet can only make the future of Rosyth even more uncertain.”

Scott Barrie, MSP for Dunfermline West, said “major gaps” in Rosyth’s order book had been the cause of the redundancies but he was confident the remaining workforce would hold on to their jobs for the foreseeable future.

He said, “The announcement, so soon after news of contracts being awarded earlier this week, shows just how vital it was for Rosyth to win those contracts.”