Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP David Mundell is to meet with Scottish Coal unions and management in a bid to secure threatened jobs in Upper Nithsdale and Clydesdale.
Hundreds of workers at Scottish Coal are to be made redundant as the company faces major financial difficulties, with staff being told the firm must ‘immediately downsize’.
The Scottish Resources Group, which owns the coal mining operations, is planning to shed around 450 jobs across its sites, including those in Clydesdale and Dumfriesshire.
The company also wants to close their Fife headquarters and instead use a Clydesdale opencast as their base. The company’s shock decision comes because of the ‘continued depression of the international coal price has led to coal sales contracts with generators being uneconomic’.
Now the local MP is set to meet the sites Unions and Managers to help secure these much needed jobs for the future.
“I am doing everything I can to secure the best possible outcome for workers. These jobs are really important to this rural area so this news remains very disappointing, which is why I am keen to sit down with Unions and Management to offer my support and to see what, if anything, can be done.
The MP added: “News of hundreds of job losses within Scottish Coal is very regrettable, for they are an important employer within my rural constituency.
“And as the company go through the redundancy notice period, due to end in June, this must be a most unsettling time for the workforce and their families.
“I can only hope this has a satisfactory outcome, and that Scottish Coal is able to continue supplying secure, affordable energy supplies to consumers and continue to provide job opportunities in rural Scotland.”