Salmon farm has told staff that jobs will go!

The company have been accused by staff of being 'uncaring'

Kyles of Vuia in Loch Roag, owned by the Scottish Salmon Company (SSC), have outsourced a net washing facility to outside contractors, Leco Marine Limited.

Letters to staff said under TUPE regulations they should automatically transfer to the new contractor. However, the Gazette has learned that Leco Marine can do the same job SSC staff were doing with far fewer employees, and that, claims SSC allows them to make surplus staff redundant.

We attempted to contact Leco Marine for comment, but the company has no website or telephone numbers listed. Companies House records show it is registered to an address in Averon Way, Teaninich Industrial Estate, Alness.

Duncan MacRae, an employee who started with the Scottish Salmon Company at Kyles of Vuia six years ago years ago, told us he was disgusted with the manner in which the company has handled this whole process.

He said: “When I asked about a possible transfer to another position at Loch Roag, they sent me a list of current vacancies, of which there was only one full-time position available, which was unsuitable.

“One colleague has had to move to the mainland to work at their Torridon site while the other eight have been made redunadant. When word broke about the redundancies and just before Christmas too, I was gobsmacked.

“They say they care about their staff, but this shows them in their true light. They couldn’t care less about me, or the rest of my colleagues who have also lost their jobs.”

Industry body, the Scottish Salmon Producers Association, who the Gazette featured last week as they publicised a new blueprint for the future of salmon farms, declined to comment.

A spokesperson for The Scottish Salmon Company said: “Staff at our Loch Roag site were advised on November 16 that we would be outsourcing our net washing operations to Leco Marine.

“Subsequently, the employment of the SSC staff who were responsible for these activities would have transferred through TUPE to Leco Marine from December 1.

“However, affected employees have agreed alternative arrangements including accepting other roles within SSC.”

Duncan, having been given sight of the statement from the company, said: “The alternative agreements they refer to are redundancy payments – they called them ex-gratia severance payments, but it still means my partner and I, along with six others are now out of a job.”

We asked the Scottish Salmon Company for a further statement on the number of staff who are receiving ‘ex-gratia severance payments’ but they refused to disclose that information.