Unions welcome plans to keep offshore wind farm contracts in Scotland

The Scottish Government announced this week that developers will have to apply on supply-chain commitments when applying for offshore wind leases.

The announcement was welcomed by trade unions.

Pat Rafferty and Gary Smith, Scottish secretaries of Unite and GMB, said: “We welcome these long overdue measures announced today by the Scottish Government in taking a harder line with the industry but this must be the start of change and not the end.

“The truth is it’s been a decade of failure for job creation in Scotland’s offshore wind sector.

“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.

“It’s a scandalous story of missed opportunities and ultimately one of industrial and political failure.

“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 anywhere but Scotland.”