The introduction of works councils at Ineos' Grangemouth complex in Scotland is an attempt to "kill the unions," Michael Connarty, a member of the Scottish parliament (MSP) for East Falkirk district, which includes Grangemouth, said at a rally of the trade union Unite.

"Works councils have a legitimacy in the public sector, but not in the private sector," Connarty asserted. "It's a way of breaking down the trade unions."

"Ineos has placed lackeys of its own choosing onto forums which don't have any power and don't represent the workers," the MSP continued.

Pat Rafferty, Scottish secretary of Unite -- the union whose battle with Ineos last autumn led company chairman Jim Ratcliffe to threaten to close the mammoth petrochemical site - countered that the works councils were not replacing the unions.

"We are the single union registered by Ineos for collective bargaining on issues like pay and working conditions," Rafferty said, a situation also confirmed by the company.

"It is important to us that all sections of staff (i.e. nonmembers of unions) have an opportunity to be part of the works councils," Ineos said.

The system the now Swiss-headquartered group recently began implementing at Grangemouth is modeled closely on the German system, which Ratcliffe has repeatedly said he admires. Works councils operate separately from unions, although its members often also belong to the company union. Only the union conducts collective bargaining, however.