FIFE YESTERDAY suffered a double jobs blow on the day a major report said that job creation in Scotland is outstripping the rest of the UK.

Thirty-six posts are to go with the closure of the Co-op’s department store in Glenrothes.

In addition 43 workers at Duracord, Dunfermline’s last textile factory, have been made redundant. The firm has gone into administration and will close if no buyer can be found.

Staff were facing redundancy on the day a Bank of Scotland monthly survey reported a healthy labour market in Scotland.

The Co-operative Group confirmed yesterday it will close its Albany Gate electrical outlet unless a buyer can be found within the next two years.

The retailer, which has two premises in the Kingdom Shopping Centre, will put its department store up for sale in line with the group’s plans to leave the sector.

Although the Glenrothes shop will not be closed immediately, the future of its 18 full-time and 18 part-time staff looks bleak.

Co-op management are in continuing discussions with Anglia Regional Co-operative Society over a possible takeover of what has become the ailing side of its business empire.

However, if no deal can be reached, the town centre store will cease trading in February 2007, making all of its workers redundant.

Co-op Group deputy chief executive Paul Hewitt said the decision had been taken “with much regret” by the board and only after a detailed strategic review of the department store business, which last year lost more than £4 million and has a history of poor performance.

“The review concluded that a complete exit from the sector, disposal of the stores and the reinvestment of the proceeds into our core businesses was the only commercial option,” he said.

“This was a very difficult decision to make but at the end of the day it was a necessary one.

“We will be closing the 10 biggest loss-makers next February and we hope to be able to find buyers for as many of the remaining stores as we can.

“We will do everything we can to help those left without jobs find alternative employment.”

The Co-op Group operates 36 department stores across the country, 10 of which will close in February in the first phase of the programme.

Workers at shops in Alexandria, Dumbarton, Dunoon, Falkirk, Fraserburgh, Helensburgh and Kirkintilloch were among the unlucky ones to be told their stores would be closed four months from now.

In total, the initial 10 UK closures will mean the loss of 71 full-time jobs and 70 part-time positions, with the remaining 26 stores employing 491 full-time staff and 379 part-timers.

The Co-op Group also plans to sell its television rental business, which employs 56, as part of the programme.

Meanwhile in Dunfermline, Duracord, in Pilmuir Street, now faces closure if no buyers come forward to save the firm.

A total of 43 workers walked out after being made redundant on Tuesday.

At the moment, 28 jobs are being retained at the Dunfermline site, with another 47 at the company’s other base in Rochdale.

It is the second time in under two years the firm has hit financial troubles.

The receivers were called in during November 2003, when it was known as Dunlop Textiles Ltd.

Scottish business recovery group Cree-8 offered the company a lifeline. However the factory has since been unable to meet production targets.

Until the end of 2003, the firm employed a staff of 170 between its two bases, with more than 100 jobs in Dunfermline.

The combined workforce has now shrunk to 75 in the UK.

A spokesman for administrator Pricewaterhouse- Coopers said it was too early to speculate how much interest there would be from potential purchasers.