FEARS are mounting for more than 700 jobs amid claims a major Scots engineering firm is poised to enter administration.
Staff at WJ Harte, which carries out work for major housebuilders, have been told an administrator is to be appointed imminently, with the banks blamed for failing to extend its credit facility.
Ucatt, the union representing construction workers, said it had received "a substantial number of calls" from workers at the firm concerned about its future.
The local MSP and MP have also demanded meetings with directors at the firm, based in Bothwell, Lanarkshire.
The company, which has been carrying out civil engineering and groundworks projects throughout Scotland for almost 40 years, last night refused to speculate on its future, saying it would issue a statement today.
However, The Herald understands the company has approached a number of firms specialising in insolvency.
Ucatt said it had been told yesterday morning the firm was simply facing cashflow problems but was later informed by members employed at the firm that an administrator could be appointed as soon as today.
In recent years the firm has had to shed hundreds of staff after mothballing projects when the contractor it was working for collapsed.
The administration of the firm would be another body blow for Scotland's construction sector, which according to one leading trade body, shed 30,000 jobs in the year to September 2011 and 7000 alone last summer.
The Scottish Building Federation also said that "as an indicator of the health of the wider economy, such a big drop in construction industry employment should set alarm bells ringing".
One insider said: "Staff at the Bothwell headquarters were told of the news by a female who was described as an insolvency practitioner brought in to help. Basically she said we'd no credit facility and debts to pay which we couldn't and the upshot was an administrator would be in by the end of the week.
"We're talking about more than 700 jobs here and when the staff were told, even though we've known for some time things were bad, we thought we'd soldier on so there's been a lot of shock and upset. We're told by the end of the week only people who help wind things up will still be employed."
Michael McMahon, Labour MP for Uddingston and Bellshill, said he had asked for urgent meetings between himself and Lanark and Hamilton East MP Jimmy Hood and Harte directors, only to be told no-one was available.
Mr McMahon said he too had been told an announcement would be made today. He added: "This constituency has the highest number of construction companies closing and staff being made unemployed for some period of time and we've already held meetings with the Civil Engineering and Construction Association, but the Scottish Government has a responsibility here because they have effectively turned off the tap on capital projects."
Ucatt spokesman Harry Frew added: "We will be sending an official to WJ Harte on Tuesday to check on the current position and clarify what we've been told. If it is negative we will be contacting our members and doing anything we can do to assist. It may be the case a collective award will be granted on the failure of Harte to consult on these redundancies."
A spokesman at WJ Harte said: "We cannot comment until a statement is issued clarifying our position."
l Almost 130 UK-based jobs are to be lost after French ferry operator SeaFrance went into liquidation yesterday.
The mainly Dover-based office workers, check-in staff and those who help passengers board the company's ships on the Dover-Calais route will be affected.
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