THE closure of a major call centre by gas giant Centrica is part of the “offshoring” of Scottish energy jobs to foreign countries, Scottish TUC delegates heard today.

Energy unions GMB and Unison raised the alarm over “hundreds of workers facing redundancy” at the City Park site in Glasgow. Unions said Centrica, which owns British Gas, was moving jobs at its smart home device arm Hive to other countries.

The motion decried a 44 per cent pay rise for Centrica chief executive Iain Conn, saying it had been “announced the same week as the closure of City Park.”

GMB Scotland organiser Hazel Nolan said: “It’s an insult that Iain Conn is rewarded bringing down a once great British institution.

If anyone should be worried about his position, it should be Iain Conn.

“GMB Scotland will be fighting to to retain Hive in Scotland and defend our members’ interests against the chaos caused by Centrica senior management.”

The motion also criticised “attempts by senior management to move to a contractor-based casualised employment model” for gas engineers.

It called for the Scottish government to “hold an inquiry into the offshoring of jobs in the energy sector and the lack of commitment from companies, both in the renewables sector and the traditional energy sector, for a just transition.”

The debate followed an STUC report warning that thousands of promised jobs in Scotland’s renewables sector had not been delivered.

GMB Scotland secretary Gary Smith said the case of mothballed BiFab yards, which produced infrastructure for renewable energy generation, demonstrated that “politicians preach and don’t plan.”

He said: “Despite all the talk of a green jobs revolution, the fabrication yards in Burntisland and Methil remain empty.

“The manufacture of 100 turbine jackets and five floating platforms for the Moray East and Kincardine projects will not take place in Fife but in Belgium, the north-east of England, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.”

Mr Smith said this was “the result of our industry being controlled by European state-subsided energy firms, Far East finance and Middle East sovereign wealth, and their supply chain partners of preference.”

He added: “This is what long-term political failure looks like and the price is paid in the loss of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of prosperity to the Scottish economy, starving hope from working-class communities in regions of economic deprivation like Fife.”