Trade unions have called for deeds not words after the Scottish Government pledged to safeguard jobs in the offshore wind sector.
It follows a crunch meeting in response to missed opportunities to secure projects for Scotland.
Recent set-backs include redundancies at BiFab’s Arnish yard and fears work on the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm off the Angus coast could be lost to China.
After government officials met unions and industry representatives in Edinburgh on Thursday, Scottish economy secretary Derek Mackay said he would use “every lever at our disposal to ensure that our renewables supply chain benefits from the expansion of offshore wind in our waters, leading to the creation and retention of Scottish jobs”.
While welcoming the measures, which they described as “long overdue”, the Unite and GMB unions said detailed plans and investment were needed to safeguard Scottish jobs.
In a joint statement, Unite and GMB said: “In 2011 employment in Scotland’s offshore wind sector was forecast to be 28,000 direct jobs and 20,000 indirect jobs by 2020. We are nowhere near that and in the last few months redundancy notices have been handed out at supply chain firms like BiFab and CS Wind.
“Without a detailed industrial plan involving the industry and a substantial programme of investment for our supply chain, our green jobs revolution will continue to be delivered in Spain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and China – anywhere but Scotland.”
Mr Mackay said despite Scotland being ideally located for offshore wind, recent projects had “not delivered the significant economic opportunities we want to see for Scottish businesses.”
He said: “The Scottish Government has been calling for the offshore sector to do more by awarding contracts to our indigenous supply chain but recent disappointments suggest that more has to be done.
“The measures agreed with Crown Estate Scotland will help to release more of those economic benefits for the Scottish economy and ensure that the Scottish-based supply chain is considered when tendering for work or making long-term conditions.”
Colin Palmer, director of marine for Crown Estate Scotland, said: “Scotland has unique potential when it comes to offshore wind and we’re committed to doing all we can to unlock that opportunity. ScotWind Leasing will present Scotland as an attractive destination for the significant investment needed to deliver the scale of offshore wind projects we want to see.”
