NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of ignoring the plight of sacked workers at Stoneywood paper mill in the North East.
The 300-year-old firm entered administration last week with staff made redundant.
According to reports, they were given just 90 minutes' notice.
Staff are now considering legal action in a bid to claw back outstanding wages, paid annual leave and overtime.
While PACE, the Scottish Government’s national strategic partnership framework for responding to redundancy situations is involved, the North East Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden questioned why the SNP leader had not taken a more active interest.
He said: “It is now a week since the firm went into administration, and this is the first time that I have heard the First Minister mention it.
“When BiFab went into administration, the First Minister flew back from Germany. When Ferguson’s went into administration, the Scottish Government nationalised the yard.
“When the Michelin factory in Dundee closed, Scottish Enterprise turned it into an innovation park.
“However, when it comes to jobs in Aberdeen, the First Minister is nowhere to be seen and we are met with a wall of silence.
“When will the First Minister come up to Aberdeen to speak to the workers whose livelihoods are in jeopardy?
“What steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that the mill can be saved or that all of the people affected can find alternative employment?
“The loss of more than 300 jobs needs more than the usual PACE response.”
The First Minister said Mr Lumsden was “doing a disservice to everybody affected.”
She told MSPs: “Since 2019, when it first became clear that the company was facing administration, the Scottish Government has been working, principally through Scottish Enterprise, to try to find an alternative future and to find a buyer for the company.
“Despite all of those best efforts, that has not proved possible, which is deeply regrettable.”
She said the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise “will continue to provide support to the workers and will continue to do all that we can to understand what possibilities there might be for the business.”
“I am sure that Douglas Lumsden’s concern for the workers involved is absolutely genuine, but I encourage him to engage with the minister and the government so that, notwithstanding our many differences, we can perhaps work together in their interests.”
The SNP’s Jackie Dunbar, whose Aberdeen Donside constituency includes the site, asked the First Minister to provide a commitment “that the Scottish Government and partners will continue to support all constituents who are impacted by the closure.”
She also urged Ms Sturgeon to condemn outright “the employment practices of the mill’s owners, who have not consulted the unions or employees and have provided no notice to workers of redundancies while locking them out of the workplace.”
The First Minister told the MSP that the government was “committed to supporting all those impacted by the closure.”
She said: “Employment law is, of course, a reserved matter, but it is our firm belief that a progressive approach to industrial relations and an effective voice for workers are at the heart of a fairer society in Scotland.”
Administrators said the company was closed because of "skyrocketing energy costs and spiralling input prices".
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