Oil and Gas | No ban without a plan
+++ £200m Grangemouth investment win from Westminster following Unite rally at Scottish Labour conference to protest Grangemouth job losses +++
Following the high-profile campaign run by Unite, and backed by the community, the UK’s leading union has welcomed the announcement on Sunday 23 February that prime minister Keir Starmer has allocated £200 million from the national wealth fund for the future of the Grangemouth refinery. The devil will be in the detail, but this significant investment should be the start of a real industrial plan for Grangemouth that both safeguards Scotland’s energy security and delivers the jobs of the future.
Multiple demonstrations, a march on the Scottish parliament and meetings with local and national politicians have succeeded in winning this much-needed initial investment, with Unite activists from community and industrial branches supporting the cause. Unite has been leading the campaign to save the refinery and for it to transition to a facility producing SAF (sustainable aviation fuel). The Grangemouth refinery is essential to the success of the Scottish economy, contributing over £400 million a year and supporting thousands of jobs across the site and supply chain, while the production of SAF is critical for the government to meet its environmental targets.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is welcome news after months of our campaign and supported by the community of Grangemouth, Keir Starmer and the UK government have finally listened. This needs to be the start not the end in delivering a real workers' transition for Grangemouth. Following this announcement, it is essential that all stakeholders come together to put the meat on the bones and that this investment counts for jobs and our security. Clear timescales will be important as well as details on jobs.”
Latest press coverage on the campaign
“Grangemouth and the North Sea are the first big tests of the Labour government's transition strategy. So why is it stalling so badly?” - Unite's Sharon Graham, in the Times, challenges Labour to show us the jobs to replace the 30,000 predicted to go in oil and gas by the end of the decade. Read the full article or click on the image below: Path to green energy should not be littered with job losses - The Times, Friday 31 January 2025 (£)
Tell our politicians | Support Oil and Gas workers
More than 70 Scottish politicians have signed Unite’s campaign pledge, but what about the others? Check to see if yours has signed – all in this image have and then follow this link if your representative has not added their name yet.
Ask your MSP/MP to sign the pledge
It takes just a couple of minutes to contact your MSP and MP and ask them to add their name to Unite’s pledge to support oil and gas workers. We need all our politicians to stand up and be counted, and to support our oil and gas workers.
Just Transition Commission slams Grangemouth closure
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has called the closure of Scotland’s last oil refinery, ‘an act of industrial vandalism’. Now the head of the Just Transition Commission, Richard Hardy has said: "the key lesson" on transition from fossil fuels to renewables is "not to do it like at Grangemouth." Unite has a viable plan for Grangemouth. The Scottish first minister, John Swinney, has raised it with the UK government and Brian Leishman MP called Ineos’ plans an ‘unjust transition’ and the UK government’s approach as, ‘certainly not a credible industrial strategy’.
Time to ask your MSP/MP to sign the Unite pledge
Keep Grangemouth Working - thanks for marching on Holyrood - 28 November 2024
Workers and supporters of the Grangemouth Oil Refinery show that they have not given up on the town of Grangemouth and rallied outside the Scottish parliament to call on politicians inside the building to do the same; fight for jobs, fight for Grangemouth, and fight for a Just Transition.
Essential to the economy
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “To throw highly skilled workers at Grangemouth on the scrapheap would be a monumental act of industrial vandalism. Grangemouth is essential to the success of the Scottish economy and politicians from all parties need to focus on finding a viable solution. Politicians from all sides need to come together and ensure a viable future for Grangemouth, not at some time in the distant future but here and now. A failure to act by either Westminster or Holyrood government will not be forgiven or forgotten.”
Unite holds Labour government to account over Grangemouth and launches survival plan - Monday 18 November 2024
New union plan proves refinery could become bio-fuels hub for Britain - saving thousands of jobs. Grangemouth transition to SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) production would be a huge net zero achievement for Britain and also a vital strategic asset - read the full press release and letter to Ed Miliband and don't forget to sign up for the rally in Edinburgh on Thursday 28 November.
Snap one if you see one | Unite billboards
Keep an eye out for our billboards in and around Grangemouth, and if you spot one why not share on your socials? Tag Unite for a Workers Economy? #KeepGrangemouthWorking
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Unite for a Worker's Transition
Tell the politicians to create the new jobs BEFORE turning off the taps on North Sea Oil - No Ban Without a Plan! See the Unite adverts and billboards backing the campaign.
TUC Congress backs Unite’s No Ban Without A Plan motion
Cliff Bowen (Unite EC member for Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Process and Textiles) spoke at the 2024 TUC Congress about Unite's No Ban Without A Plan campaign and the urgent need for a just transition for North Sea oil and gas workers and their communities: "The world of energy is changing, but with it we also have the greatest of opportunities. We can show the world what a just transition should look like, taking the 200,000 skilled workers who support oil and gas production, and their communities across the country, with us, and in the process revitalise UK manufacturing. A just transition with them, not one that is done to them."
The motion – which passed on Monday 9 September – called on the government to halt plans to ban new licences until a fully-funded plan guaranteeing jobs for North Sea workers on commensurate pay and conditions is in place. Watch Cliff’s whole speech on Unite's YouTube channel.
A call to all Scottish politicians – sign Unite’s pledge to back North Sea workers
Unite for a Workers' Economy is asking Scottish MPs and MSPs from across the political spectrum to sign this pledge to support North Sea workers.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be contacting all our Scottish politicians. We’re demanding they call on the Westminster government to back our Workers’ Transition plan for oil and gas jobs and the communities that rely on them.
30,000 oil and gas jobs are at risk by 2030. But if Scottish politicians rally around and the Labour government invests and makes the right choices now, that could turn into 35,000 well-paid jobs in the renewable energy industries of the future.
The pledge
I pledge to support oil and gas workers
As a Scottish politician, I call on the UK government to ensure that:
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- Oil and gas workers must not become the coal miners of this generation. We need to ensure adequate investment so that workers are not made to pay the price for the transition to greener energy.
- Entire communities are not left to face unemployment and devastation. These types of transitions must have workers at their heart. This time around, there must be a rock-solid, cast-iron plan for jobs.
- Climate change is a threat to humanity, but it cannot be the workers, the working class, who lose out in the transition.
We need a concrete plan and serious investment. Unite has a plan to create 35,000 commensurate new energy transition jobs in Scotland by 2030.
Get involved!
Download the posters and leaflet below to print and/or share online.
If you work in the oil and gas sector, show your support by taking a photo of you and your workmates holding the poster. Send your photos with a note of where the images were taken (i.e. which installation, refinery or terminal) to us at Unite Mobilisation.
- Download the Unite Oil and Gas campaign - updated leaflet
- Download the Unite Invest in a workers transition poster
- Download the Labour - time to back Scottish jobs poster
Oil and gas workers can't be the miners of net zero
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, writes in the Daily Mirror, August 2024: 
"Forty years ago, hundreds of thousands of people in coal mining communities were left on the scrap heap after the closure of the pits. The then government didn’t spare a thought about what to do next. They took the axe to the miners and didn’t look back. Entire communities were devastated. Today, tens of thousands of workers in the North Sea face another cliff edge. This time around, there must be a rock-solid, cast-iron plan for jobs, or we will fight any bans on production.
" Climate change is a threat to humanity, but it cannot be the workers, the working class who pay the price for transition." Read the full article and more on the Daily Mirror website.
Aberdeen businesses backing Unite's campaign
Nearly 200 Aberdeen businesses rallied in Aberdeen on Thursday 27 June, and joined Unite’s call for action for politicians to safeguard the livelihoods of the tens of thousands of North Sea workers and the communities and businesses that rely on those jobs and the incomes they provide.
‘North-east will be decimated’: Workers, unions and Aberdeen businesses in fight against Labour’s oil and gas plans | Nearly 200 firms signed an open letter calling for Labour to drop its policy of banning new oil and gas licences until a plan is in place to replace jobs... writes Adele Merson of the Press & Journal
Fighting for oil and gas jobs
Unite is out every day, in the streets and on the media, fighting to protect the tens of thousands of North Sea jobs. Watch Unite general secretary Sharon Graham on Sky TV’s Trevor Phillips show, making it clear to the politicians that Unite will accept no ban without a plan.
Making North Sea Oil Central to the Election
On June 3 STV hosted the Scottish Leaders’ Debate, with the four Scottish Westminster parties battling it out for our votes. Key to the debate was the question of North Sea Oil and Gas, with STV host Colin Mackay asking the panel, “are you in favour of new licences for the North Sea?”
SNP First Minister John Swinney talked about a just transition away from fossil fuels and accused Labour’s plans of risking the creation of an “industrial wasteland” in the north east of Scotland.
Politicians are lining up to explain how they share Unite’s concerns. Labour's Conor Savage and Ian Murray have both been speaking about how they share Unite's concerns and want to see a just transition. Well, Unite says, let's see the money and the plan!
“We need a concrete plan and serious investment. Unite has a plan to create 35,000 commensurate new energy transition jobs in Scotland by 2030. This will require investment of £6.6 billion over the next 6 years. That is the commitment we need to see if oil and gas workers are not going to be the coal miners of our generation. And until these new green, well paid, skilled jobs are in place there must be no ban on oil and gas licences.” - Unite general secretary Sharon Graham
Labour - Hands off the North Sea until you have a concrete plan for:
Jobs: Create 35,000 new energy transition jobs in Scotland by 2030
We need investment in permanent, local jobs in industries like wind power manufacturing and operations, hydrogen, carbon capture and decommissioning. Costing only an additional £1.1 billion per year in investment that will pay for itself. That’s just a fraction of the £36 billion in the profits oil companies made from the North Sea last year.
Conditions: North Sea workers must not be left behind
Transitioning North Sea workers need good union jobs with pay, pensions and other conditions that are commensurate with their current roles, as well as the provision of all necessary training. The jobs they move into can’t leave them worse off.
Security: Make Britain energy self-sufficient
We need to work towards a self-sufficient energy system – with 75 per cent local content of energy – harnessing public sector purchasing power to benefit Scottish workers and communities. No more profiteering, with global market chaos pushing up bills and threatening our future.
It’s time for Labour to do the right thing by North Sea workers | No ban without a plan.
Sign the petition - click the image below
Put simply: The transition to net zero will only work if we put jobs at its very heart. The current plan is too vague, says Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.
We are not going to let the oil and gas sectors suffer the equivalent of the coal closures, which broke the back of mining towns across the UK, turning thriving communities into places where the generations have been left without hope. Our Unite workers are not going to be the miners of net zero.
Currently, there are 30,000 offshore jobs, and seven or eight times that amount in the vast supply chain. We need a plan that puts workers at the heart of the programme for net zero, not consideration as an afterthought.
We cannot abandon fossil fuels until we know how we will replace them, and how the jobs and communities from the North Sea fields will be protected.
If there is to be a just transition, massive investment will be needed. At Unite, we are doing the work on our plan right now. We will have the facts to hand for what needs to be done, and we will not accept promises of jam tomorrow. Read Unite general secretary Sharon Graham in the Press & Journal on why: We can't sit back and allow oil and gas workers to become the miners of net zero.
Press coverage
'Labour facing rebellion by union on oil and gas policy' - This is the headline in the Daily Herald, which continues: “One of the UK's biggest trade unions is launching a rebellion against the Labour party in Scotland over its policy to ban all new licences for oil and gas projects in the North Sea following concerns over major job losses...”
All over Scotland and the UK the media has been plastered with headlines like this. And Keir Starmer’s Labour know it. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Labour needs to pull back from this irresponsible policy. There is clearly no viable plan for the replacement of North Sea jobs or energy security. We should not be letting go of one rope until we have hold of another.” There have been articles, opinion pieces, editorials and interviews on TV, Radio and in the written press, all backed with a massive advertising campaign in print, online and on billboards.
And it keeps coming in. Read more via the Unite Oil and Gas campaign press page.
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