Hundreds of workers attended a rally at the Grangemouth oil refinery yesterday as the dispute over its future continued.
Owner Ineos has written to the workers asking them to agree to changes to pensions and other terms and conditions as part of a survival plan.
Union Unite has accused the company of giving workers an ultimatum, accept worse pay and conditions, or lose your job.
The plant was shut down last week as a result of the dispute, with the company saying it had cost it £20million on top of monthly losses of £10million.
Ineos has warned the plant will close in 2017 without fresh investment and changes to workers’ terms and conditions.
Around 400 employees, some with their families, attended a rally in heavy rain and heard from speakers from Unite and other bodies such as the Scottish Trades Union Congress.
“Incredibly, our members have been served notice that they will be sacked in 45 days unless they bend to the will of Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos. This is a move to sack one of the most skilled workforces in the country,” site convener Mark Lyon told the crowd.
On Saturday Alex Salmond repeated a plea for unions to agree to no industrial action and for management to reopen the site in order for negotiations to take place.
Ineos said it needs an assurance there will be no industrial action due to “safety concerns” about restarting the site.
Speaking at the rally, Pat Rafferty, Unite’s Scottish secretary, said: “We welcome the first minister’s intervention and say there will be no industrial action to allow negotiations to take place however long it takes. The company needs to get back to the table, as the first minister has called for, to stop this imposition and negotiate.”
Unite yesterday published a strongly-worded advert in Scottish newspapers titled “a message to the people of Scotland”.
It described Ineos as “out of control” and accused it of “waging a campaign of fear against its employees”.
Ineos wants workers to respond to the proposed changes by this evening.
“It’s the company that set this deadline so we’re not quite sure what happens after that,” said Rafferty
“We still believe there is time for it to be called off and to get back to negotiations. We’re recommending to our members they do not opt in and sign this offer, we want them to reject it and get it back to us and we can negotiate with Ineos.”
Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe said: “This is not a bluff. The clock is ticking, Grangemouth could have a future but that is in the hands of the workers.
“The situation is very serious but I want to emphasise that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Grangemouth can have a potentially exciting future.”
Ineos said over 250 workers had so far accepted the new terms and conditions ahead of today’s deadline, which it viewed as “positive”.
The company sent out a letter on Thursday to all 1,350 workers asking them to indicate their support or rejection of the company’s plan by 6pm today.
Workers who accept the proposals will receive a transitional payment of up to £15,000 which the company said they can use as they wish, plus a contribution to their money-purchase pension scheme.
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