Workers at the huge Grangemouth oil refinery will be told tomorrow whether the plant has a future or faces permanent closure amid an increasingly bitter dispute about a survival plan put forward by the owners.
Ineos said chairman Calum MacLean will address the workforce following the passing of a deadline for accepting new pensions and other terms and conditions.
The Unite union said around 680 of the site's 1,370-strong workforce had rejected the company's proposals, which include a pay freeze for 2014-16, removal of a bonus up to 2016, a reduced shift allowance and ending of the final salary pension scheme.
Meanwhile, sources said that a number of Polish contractors had gone back to Poland, while others had been moved to other sites across the UK as a result of Grangemouth being shut down.
Ineos said owner Jim Ratcliffe and other shareholders met today to study the response from the workforce to their survival plan, and wanted the employees to be the first to know of any decision the company makes.
A statement said: "Ineos is now considering the numbers of employees that have given their support to its Survival Plan. Results will be presented to a meeting of its shareholders today.
"Ineos shareholders will then decide the next step in the process. The company will first communicate the shareholders' views to the workforce directly on Wednesday.
"Consultations on the Survival Plan formally began last Thursday. It will take 45 days before any changes to terms and conditions can be introduced and 60 days before any changes to pensions can be implemented."
Unite accused the company of playing "Russian roulette" with the future of Grangemouth, the biggest industrial site in Scotland, and backed any efforts by the Scottish Government to find a new buyer for the oil refinery and petrochemical complex.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said the dispute was now a "stalemate", adding that "alternative options" were being considered, although he dismissed any idea of Government ownership of the site.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "Jim Ratcliffe's behaviour has exposed a dreadful frailty at the heart of our energy supply, which is that one man's power and wealth can hold our governments and citizens to ransom.
"Our politicians need now to step up. Our public utilities cannot be run by those indifferent to considerations of social responsibility.
"Unite calls upon politicians in Edinburgh and Westminster to support a new beginning for Grangemouth, free of the tyranny of one man's whims.
"If this means securing financial assistance - or even nationalisation - then this must be done. We can have no objections from Westminster when they have handed our nuclear energy future over to the state-owned Chinese and French nuclear industries."
Last Thursday, Ineos sent a letter to all the workers asking them to indicate their rejection or acceptance of the plan.
It said those who supported the survival plan would receive a transitional payment of up to £15,000.
The two sides have been embroiled in a bitter dispute for weeks, initially over the treatment of Unite convenor Stephen Deans, who was involved in the row over a selection of a Labour candidate in Falkirk, where he is chairman of the constituency party.
He was suspended, then reinstated, and is facing an internal investigation, which is due to report on Friday.
The dispute has since widened to the future of the entire site, with Ineos warning that it will close without fresh investment and changes to pensions and other terms and conditions.
The company said the plant, which has been shut down since last week because of the dispute, is losing £10 million a month.
The GMB union said maintenance work at Grangemouth was being scaled back and contract employees were being transferred to other sites.
Mr Ratcliffe, the founder and chairman of Ineos, one of the world's largest chemicals manufacturers, said at the weekend that the fate of the Grangemouth plant rested with its staff.
"This is not a bluff. The clock is ticking," he said. "Grangemouth could have a future but that is absolutely in the hands of the workers. If we go down the wrong road, then I'm afraid this story will not have a happy ending."
Ineos said it is ready to invest £300 million in Grangemouth, but only if workers agree to the new terms and conditions.
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