Union looks to take legal action over closure of paper mill

A trade union is seeking to take legal action over the closure of a paper mill.

Pat Rafferty, Scottish secretary of the Unite union, said the union was looking to take action over the “lack of consultation” with trade unions.

His comments came two days after it was announced the Stoneywood mill in Aberdeen, together with another mill in Chartham, Kent, were being placed in administration.

Administrators were appointed for the Arjowiggins Group UK, which operated the two sites.

The move resulted in 368 of the firm’s 463 UK-based employees being made redundant immediately.

Speaking about the situation at a Unite Scottish policy conference in Glasgow, Mr Rafferty said: “I just wanted to send a message of solidarity from this conference to our members at Stoneywood in Aberdeen who have just been told in the past couple of days the whole site is closing down.

“We will obviously fight against that as much as we can.

“We will be taking legal action against them for the lack of consultation with the union in that regard.”

Administrator Blair Nimmo said that while Arjowiggins had a “a long and proud history dating back more than 260 years”, the company had been affected by the “severe challenges posed by the pandemic” as well as the “significant economic headwinds which have been impacting industrial manufacturing businesses up and down the country, including skyrocketing energy costs”.