WORKERS at the Grangemouth oil refinery will be told today whether the plant has a future amid a bitter dispute over its survival.

Owner Ineos said chairman Calum MacLean would address the workforce following the passing of a deadline for accepting new pensions and other terms and conditions.

The Unite union said about 680 of the site's 1370 workers had rejected the company's proposals, which include a pay freeze for 2014-16, removal of a bonus up to 2016, a reduced shift allowance and ending of the final salary pension scheme.

Last Thursday, Ineos said those who supported the survival plan would receive a transitional payment of up to £15,000.

The company said the plant, which has been shut down since last week because of the dispute, is losing £10 million a month.

Meanwhile, sources said a number of Polish contractors had gone back to Poland, while others had been moved to other sites across the UK as a result of Grangemouth being shut down.

Ineos said owner Jim Ratcliffe and other shareholders met yesterday to study the response from the workforce to their survival plan, and wanted the employees to be the first to know of any decision the company makes.

A statement said: "Ineos is now considering the numbers of employees that have given their support to its survival plan.

"Results will be presented to a meeting of its shareholders today.

"Ineos shareholders will then decide the next step in the process. The company will first communicate the shareholders' views to the workforce directly on Wednesday.

"Consultations on the survival plan formally began last Thursday. It will take 45 days before any changes to terms and conditions can be introduced and 60 days before any changes to pensions can be implemented."

However, Unite accused the company of playing "Russian roulette" with the future of Grangemouth, the biggest industrial site in Scotland, The union also said it backed any efforts by the Scottish Government to find a new buyer for the complex.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said the dispute was now a "stalemate", adding that "alternative options" were being considered, although he dismissed any idea of Government ownership of the site.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "Jim Ratcliffe's behaviour has exposed a dreadful frailty at the heart of our energy supply, which is that one man's power and wealth can hold our governments and citizens to ransom.

"Our politicians need now to step up. Our public utilities cannot be run by those indifferent to considerations of social responsibility."

"Unite calls upon politicians in Edinburgh and Westminster to support a new beginning for Grangemouth, free of the tyranny of one man's whims."