A north-east councillor has warned that immediate action must be taken to secure training and jobs for those facing redundancy at Young’s Seafood in Fraserburgh.
Councillor John Cox, chairman of the Banff and Buchan area committee, said it must not be left too late to help staff who he described as reaching a “critical point”.
Aberdeenshire Council said it is preparing to retrain workers from Young’s Seafood in Fraserburgh as soon as redundancies were made.
Around 650 jobs are at risk at the plant after the firm lost a lucrative processing contract with supermarket retailer Sainsbury’s earlier this year.
The Watermill Road operation could close as a result.
Last night, Councillor Cox compared the crisis at Young’s to the demise of Grampian Chicken in Banff around eight years ago.
He said: “The Young’s staff can’t all be absorbed within the community. The contract has been lost – no matter what, I can’t see them picking up another contract like that.
“They (the council) got involved in the closure of Grampian Chicken and that factory is still standing as a shell.”
Grampian Chicken’s factory closed amid 100 job losses.
Councillor Cox said: “Action has to be taken ahead of any potential job losses.
“We should be trying to anchor these people into the community – not throwing everyone at one multi-million pound company.”
Councillor Ian Tait, who represents Fraserburgh, said the town should be made an ‘enterprise zone’ to encourage business and reduce rates paid by firms.
Councillor Tait said: “Young’s is very worrying for Fraserburgh.
“The weakness we want to prevent is the narrowness of the economy. There is not enough diversification. When one company sneezes, the whole town catches the cold.”
A meeting with Stephen Archer, the director of infrastructure services, will now be scheduled to determine what more the council can provide to staff at the firm.
Young’s is currently in consultation with its staff at Fraserburgh about the job losses.
Infrastructure officer June Burnett said that two ’employability events’ were planned for Fraserburgh’s staff.
“They will tie in with when we expect the redundancies to take place,” she said.