A member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) has reportedly flagged potential discriminatory hiring practices that target former oil and gas workers.
Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin told the BBC that she has written to UK Employment Minister Damian Hinds after seeing “documentary evidence” of discrimination against former energy workers.
Martin is a member of the Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee.
Martin wrote in the letter that information she has obtained suggests that “companies are discriminating against these workers, regardless of their skills, based only on their past involvement in the oil and gas industry,” the BBC said.
Scotland’s Employment Minister Jamie Hepburn told the BBC that the claims “are deeply concerning” and should be brought to the attention of the UK government.
One former oil worker told BBC that companies have not hired him because they believe he will return to the energy sector once commodity prices improve.
Oil & Gas UK, an industry group, found in its 2016 activity survey that cost reductions and efficiency improvements that began in 2014 reduced the number of jobs supported by the UK oil and gas sector by 15 percent.
The group said that, as of the end of 2015, the UK oil and gas sector supported 375,000 jobs.
UK Oil & Gas said in its 2016 economic report that revenues across the supply chain has forced the industry to shed 120,000 jobs since 2014.
