Grangemouth is the jewel in Scotland's industrial crown. It is the powerhouse of our economy.

But it stands idle today.

The blame for this shocking state of affairs lies firmly with one man - Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos's owner.

The irresponsibility of this closure is breathtaking. Grangemouth provides 85 per cent of Scotland's fuel supply and 30 per cent of England's.

It supports 1,300 jobs directly and 5,500 more in the wider supply chain. And, crucially, it is responsible for some 10 per cent of Scotland's GDP.

Yet one man has forced it into a state of extreme shutdown.

Had it been a trade union that had brought Grangemouth to a standstill, ministers would be hitting the airwaves to condemn our recklessness, vowing to legislate us into non-existence.

However this is not a union, this is an individual - Ratcliffe, a man who wields colossal power but with doubtful responsibility.

Of his behaviour we hear nothing from ministers, not a word of criticism emerges from No 10.

Surely the powers that be in both Edinburgh and Westminster must be concerned.

With the AA warning that fuel supplies are being compromised by Grangemouth's closure, ministers must be assessing the wisdom of allowing unaccountable, shadowy figures to control essential commodities, only to abuse their tremendous power by plunging a national industry and an entire community into prolonged and vicious uncertainty.

None of this is necessary. At talks last week with Acas, Unite offered to suspend all industrial action in order that talks on the future of the plant could convene with the plant fully working.

The company walked from these talks only to issue "sign or be sacked" letters to all staff.

Clearly the threat to impose seriously detrimental new terms of employment - the first step to wholescale casualisation at Grangemouth - on the workforce must be withdrawn for any meaningful progress on the future of the plant to ensue.

Ineos is perpetrating a campaign of fear against its own employees. It has attacked the workers' union Unite and their representative Stephen Deans, looking to find ways to suggest that his legitimate Labour Party activities were a matter for a disciplinary investigation.

It was nothing other than an unmerited, concerted attack on a man with 24 years' loyal service.

Negative press stories painted a picture of a bleak future for the site, to petrify men and women into a state of such despair that they then sign away their rights, pay and pensions for which they have saved all their working lives.

Ineos's claim to be in "financial distress" is highly dubious. This is a £43 billion business that made £2bn in profit last year. Its own accounts predict that that chemical operation will make over £500 million.

Despite the contrived obscurity of Ineos's accounts, one thing is clear - it has avoided paying a penny in tax to this nation for four years. Its finances, including a relocation to tax haven Switzerland, are a mystery.

Ask yourself this - how can a company simultaneously declare it is worthless while its own accounts show sales in the last year jumped by 50 per cent, gross profits grew by a margin of 20 per cent and operating profit increased by a whopping 56 per cent?

This is why we have asked the HMRC to investigate, to shine a light onto the true finances of the secretive man and the company that have Scotland's premier industrial site in a chokehold while it strips the wages of the workers and holds its hand out for £150m of taxpayers' money.

Ineos now runs a very real risk of destroying good Scottish jobs through greed and power.

There can be no greater question facing Scotland than the security of our energy supply.

Grangemouth, a world-class facility, is at the heart of this country's fuel supply yet it has been plunged into peril by an out-of-control owner.

The skills and loyalty of the workforce that have helped Ineos to become a world-leading company ought to be harnessed, not destroyed.

Just days ago, what dropped on the workforce's doormats were letters of menace, pressurising people to sign away their livelihoods by 6pm the next day or face "notices of termination" - the sack to you and I.

Around the plant workers and their families have been protesting against the disgraceful treatment meted out to them and the people of Scotland and our nation's been showing them amazing support.

Unite worked tirelessly to drag this company to the negotiating table only for it to walk away just as a settlement was at hand on the whim of Ratcliffe, who was not even present at the table.

We are determined to get this company to behave responsibly. Grangemouth is a world-class facility, which with the right leadership has a bright future ahead of it. Its workforce serves our country honourably. These men and women deserve better.

Our message to the company is simple - stop holding Scotland to ransom, open this plant today, drop your threats to the workforce and get back to the negotiating table.

Pat Rafferty is Unite Scottish secretary. This article is reproduced with the kind permission of the Sunday Herald, where it appeared on October 20.