Residents are being been urged to rally behind a campaign to save Fife’s mothballed BiFab yards.
Energy firm EDF has been invited to a public meeting in Buckhaven later this month, where locals will be encouraged to send a clear message that Fife is ready for renewal.
Organisers, the GMB and Unite unions and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), hope the event on June 20 will strengthen the bid to force the French company to award a £2 billion offshore wind farm manufacturing contract to the Fife yards.
Work to create jackets for the Neart na Goaith (NnG) wind farm off the Fife coast could have created up to 1,000 jobs at BiFab’s Methil and Burntisland bases.
It is understood EDF will instead give the project to a company in Indonesia before shipping the jackets more than 11,000 miles to Fife, a move the unions claim will kill the troubled Scottish yards.
The meeting at Buckhaven Community Centre will bring together community members, BiFab workers, climate activists and politicians who are all backing the Fife – Ready for Renewal campaign.
The unions said sending the contracts abroad would be bad for the local economy and the environment.
“By shipping these massive steel structures to Fife, two at a time per ship, requiring over 30 journeys, they will generate emissions equivalent to millions of cars on the road,” they said.
“From mining to oil and gas, the workers and communities of Fife have produced energy for generations.
“The community has a proud history of construction, shipbuilding and engineering.
“We all know there is a climate emergency and that renewable energy has to increase over coming years.
“Neart na Gaoithe means strength of the wind. Let’s show EDF the strength of the people.”
The Fife – Ready for Renewals campaign received cross-party support during a debate in the Scottish Parliament last week.
Economy secretary Derek Mackay said everything possible would be done to secure further investment at BiFab.
EDF has said no Scottish company has the capability to manufacture and supply all the steel work required for the project but claimed it was committed to using Scottish firms for parts of the contracts.
It is hoped as many people as possible will attend the Buckhaven meeting on June 20, which runs from 6pm to 8pm.
