| The imminent loss of 650 jobs at NCR, and the domino effect, which could see hundreds more unemployed, today galvanised the effort to bring more jobs to the city.
The SNP has calculated that the loss of the NCR assembly line could strip £25 million a year out of the local economy and the knock-on effect could see as many as 1000 jobs lost.
Currently, Dundee is at the bottom of the Scottish city league in terms of government jobs which have been relocated from the central belt, and Edinburgh in particular.
There have been fewer than 200 civil service jobs allocated to Dundee in the past several years and, despite promises from Holyrood a number of years ago by the then First Minister Henry McLeish, more have come from Westminster than from the Scottish Executive.
Further, there is still the threat that 90 civil service jobs at HM Customs and Excise will be moved out of Dundee later this year to Manchester and Glasgow.
Dundee has been shortlisted a number of times when the council has put in a bid for more jobs, but missed out.
The Scottish Executive today was cautious in its commitment to Dundee but did indicate that the drastic downturn in its employment fortunes could effect changes.
Dundee West MP Jim McGovern said he would wholeheartedly support these urgent moves.
He added that some of those being thrown on the scrapheap by NCR could be retrained.
“In my view the NCR workforce is skilled, loyal and hard-working and I hope they would be considered as a priority.
“I would support the targeting of any kind of decent jobs for Dundee and civil service jobs come into that category.”
Dundee East MSP Shona Robison said she was still lobbying for the Customs and Excise jobs to be retained in the city and for more jobs to be relocated.
“In the light of the NCR news we can ill-afford to lose any more jobs out of the private or public sector and I will be making continued representations to the Scottish Executive since our case is now that much more urgent and vital.
“There may well be people in the workforce at NCR who, with the right training and support, could transfer their skills to the public sector.
“The principle remains that we are the bottom of the league and we need to bring more of these jobs to the city.”
Dundee West MSP Kate Maclean said she had already spoken to First Minister Jack McConnell about Dundee’s plight and the need to redouble efforts to attract more jobs.
“He said he would be paying special attention to Dundee and while we accept that we do have several prestigious organisations now in Dundee, they did not bring many jobs with them.
“So far the numbers attracted by relocation to the city has been disappointing, so it is important that we redouble our efforts in that direction.”
Jill Shimi, leader of the council administration, today said, “I can assure the people who have lost their jobs that this council will be doing everything possible to help.
“We we will be redoubling our efforts to attract both public and private sector jobs to the city.” |
