Talks between GMB and BAE last week revealed work on the military vessels may be moved to shipyards outside of Scotland. BAE claimed the figure of 800 redundancies is a “worst case scenario” in talks with join union representatives from the Scotstoun and Govan yards in Clyde.
Gary Smith, secretary, GMB Scotland, has described the move as a “total betrayal of the workforce”.
“We’ve gone from the Upper Clyde workforce being promised the manufacture of 13 Type-26 frigates in 2014, only for that to be cut to eight frigates last year,” he said.
“We’ve gone from the promise of a world-class ‘frigate factory’ on the Scotstoun site, only to be told the plans were shelved. We’ve gone from promised investment that would secure thousands of skilled jobs and hundreds of apprenticeships for a generation, only to be told to prepare for redundancies.”
A spokesman for the BAE said: "We are engaging our trades unions as we work through this process. Our focus is to deliver the capability the Royal Navy needs, while ensuring the best value for UK taxpayers."
But David Hulse, national officer, GMB, accused both BAE and the government of misleading the “loyal and dedicated workforce” and said the union would not “stand by and let them destroy our valued shipbuilding industry”.
