Swinney urged by council chief to help tackle 'jobs crisis'

A council leader has made a direct plea to First Minister John Swinney for support to tackle a "jobs crisis" after hundreds of workers were put at risk of redundancy.

Stephen McCabe called for help to "stem the flow of posts leaving Inverclyde and create new opportunities for residents".

It comes after private healthcare company Cigna announced that nearly 200 jobs were at risk across its sites in Greenock and Glasgow.

The Greenock site - which lies within the Inverclyde Council area - could potentially lose 129 of the posts, adding to a series of significant job losses in the area in recent years.

Parts of Greenock town centre have previously ranked highest for levels of deprivation in Scotland.

Another 22 jobs are under threat at the town's Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Mortgage Centre.

The latest wave of redundancies would add to the 1,500 jobs already lost in Inverclyde as a result of site closures and business restructures by big employers like Amazon, IBM, BT/EE, Berry BPI, and Webhelp.

Council leader McCabe said data showed Inverclyde was an "outlier" in the Glasgow City Region for "lowest jobs density, highest proportion of job losses, and health impact affecting the workforce and productivity".

In a letter to the first minister, he said "this repeating pattern of significant job losses must be addressed".

He added: "I would request a meeting with you to discuss a package of support to be offered by the Scottish government.

"There have been many instances across Scotland where job losses announced by a significant employer has triggered support packages to help the communities affected.

"The current local circumstances, and the continuing pattern of job losses, is commensurate with, if not, more profound in terms of impact on Inverclyde communities, given our small, and declining, population base, and socio-economic challenges."

When it announced the job cuts last week, Cigna said the Greenock and Glasgow sites were "integral to serving our global network of over 1.7m customers in more than 30 markets".

The company added: "We recognise this will be a difficult time for colleagues and are committed to supporting everyone affected throughout the process."