120 jobs on line after wind farm bankruptcy

Workers were sent home from Skycon's Campbeltown factory in Argyll today after the wind farm manufacturer went bust.

The firm called in the administrators and sent home the majority of its 120-strong workforce after its Danish parent firm Skycon entered insolvency proceedings.

According to reports, insolvency specialists from Ernst & Young have taken control of the factory and yesterday asked around 120 workers to take unpaid leave.

Unite regional officer Kenny Jordan said the union will now meet the administrators and the Skycon workforce next Monday (January 10) to offer whatever assistance they can to "maintain and salvage the facility" and avoid losing what Machrihanish, near Campbeltown, can offer in a growing and expanding renewables industry.

"Skycon going into administration is tragic news. Unite will be doing everything it can to support this valuable asset and the jobs that depend on it. Machrihanish in Scotland is already suffering as a unemployment black spot," he said.

"Unite will meet with the administrators and the workforce early next week to offer whatever assistance the union can to maintain the facility."

In 2009 Skycon acquired the plant from Vestas, another Danish-owned company heavily involved in the wind turbine manufacturing industry, with a view to expanding the facility to capture and access the growing export market in Britain and Ireland.

Following acquisition the workforce grew from under 100 to 130 with an expectation that it would eventually expand to employ around 400 people.

As Skycon was the biggest employer in a remote area with high unemployment Unite added that this latest development was "a blow" to the local economy.