LONDON (AA) - Part of the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland is set to close with a loss of 800 jobs.
News of the closure came on Wednesday after workers rejected a survival plan by the majority owner INEOS. Workers were told to accept a pay freeze and cuts to their pensions or face losing their jobs.
The refinery contributes to 10 percent of Scotland’s GDP and 70 percent of its fuel. Both Westminster and First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond have voiced their concern over the closure. There are efforts to find a buyer for the refinery. Salmond said that he believed Grangemouth could have a “positive future’, and that it was an “urgent priority” to find a new buyer.
The trade union representing workers at the refinery said that their members were “devastated” and claimed that the closure was the “intention of INEOS all along”.
There is still some hope after the union’s Scottish secretary said, “We have made further proposals in a last-ditch effort to stave off these catastrophic job losses.”
The BBC reported that the Union will offer to accept the Grangemouth survival plan. Meetings will continue throughout the day to decide on the future of the refinery.
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