Community leaders in a north-east port were last night bracing themselves for “devastation” after a fish processing giant unveiled plans to axe three factories.
A huge question mark has been left hanging over the futures of 900 workers at Young’s Seafoods plants in Fraserburgh.
And jobs at the company’s smoking plant in Grantown in the Highlands are also under threat.
The firm announced yesterday that it had started consulting its staff about possible closures.
The news emerged just a month after Young’s lost a lucrative contract to supply supermarket Sainbury’s with salmon.
From November, the retailer will gets its products from the Marine Harvest group.
Union leaders originally feared up to 300 Young’s staff in the north-east could lose their jobs – but the number of people who will be facing redundancy as Christmas looms now stands at treble that figure.
There was a sombre mood at Young’s the Watermill Road and Harbour Road plants in Fraserburgh yesterday as staff continued working their normal shifts into the evening.
Steven Reid, 22, had just handed in an application for a vacancy at the plant when the news broke.
He said: “I’d just went in for an interview – and got told at the end that the factory might be shutting down.
“I had heard about the contract issue before, so it wasn’t really surprising.
There’s a lot of dust to settle, so we probably won’t hear anything for the next couple of weeks. I’m still hopeful of getting a job.”
Seventeen-year-old Keiran Watt had just finished his first day at the factory.
He added: “I just heard about it. It’s a little surprising, I had to do the training before I found out.
“They were saying that jobs should continue as normal until they find out more about it. Jobs will definitely continue up until November, but after that this place might shut down.”
Community leaders likened the situation to the massive job losses in the 1980s at the Consolidated Pneumatic Toolworks – known locally as the Toolies.
Ronnie McNab, who worked at the Toolies, said the closure of the Young’s factory would have the same impact – the town would be “devastated”.
“It’s a massive blow to the community,” he added.
“I went through this process with CPT and it caused devastation. It’s not just the loss of the jobs, it’s the loss of the income to the town.
“It will be very hard for these people, who could be let go, to find a new job in this climate.
“There’s no jobs in the town for these people to go into.
“I really shudder to think how it will impact the town. It’s going to affect shops and everything. Fraserburgh has relied on the fish factories, and this will be absolutely devastating.”
The chairman of the Aberdeenshire Council’s fisheries working, Fraserburgh councillor Charles Buchan, said: “This is an extreme, and very disappointing announcement,” he said.
“Up to now we had been led to believe that they would be doing their best to keep it open.”
In February, Young’s revealed plans for a multimillion-pound investment in the port by submitting plans to the local authority for a new freezing centre at its Watermill Road site.
At the time, the project was hailed as having the potential to create new jobs and making Fraserburgh a “centre of excellence” for white fish processing.
Last night, however, the company said its plant would be left “significantly under-utilised” when its salmon contact expired.
Young’s Fraserburgh operation employs 500 staff and 400 agency workers.
Business Minister Fergus Ewing said last night the Scottish Government would help, along with Scottish Enterprise and the local authority, in “any way” it could.
He added: “This afternoon I chaired a call with local representatives and Aberdeenshire Council to ensure that our response is fully co-ordinated.”
“If required, we will provide support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations.”
Local MSP Stewart Stevenson added: “We have been in regular contact with the chief executive of Young’s Seafood over the last week, who has stressed to us that no firm decision has yet been made.
“Nevertheless, we appreciate that this will be a tremendously worrying and uncertain time for the staff at Young’s in Fraserburgh.”
And Banff and Buchan MP Eilidh Whiteford said: “We stand ready to assist our constituents and will do all in our power to safeguard jobs in the town.”