Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney has claimed the Government could plough cash into Grangemouth oil refinery due to its huge significance to the country’s economy.
Workers at the Ineos plant began an overtime ban and work-to-rule yesterday in support of a union official, Steve Deans, embroiled in the Falkirk vote-rigging row.
Mr Deans was suspended, then reinstated, by the company over allegations linked to his involvement in the bitter row over the selection of a Labour candidate in Falkirk.
Workers have voted heavily in favour of action up to and including a strike and Unite officials said they had not ruled out calling for a walkout.
Mr Swinney said: “We are in active discussions with the unions and Ineos in order to resolve the current situation and offer support for their future plans.
“We’ve been talking to the company about how we might be able to invest to support the development of the plant, to overcome some of the obstacles that it faces and to open up new market opportunities.
“But the key point in that discussion is that we can only make investment if there is a viable business proposition and that’s where we need to have all parties working together to support a proposition that can deliver the employment and the opportunities that we want to see for the plant in Grangemouth because of its very wide significance to the Scottish economy.”