Union leaders are said to be considering concessions in a bid to save Grangemouth petrochemical plant from closure.
Unite, along with the Scottish and UK governments, remains hopeful that site management will embark on a u-turn on its decision to close the facility.
Ineos told 800 employees on Wednesday that they would lose their jobs after a majority had rejected a “survival plan” involving changes to pay and pension.
The union could now be set to agree to aspects of the “survival plan” which would see changes to workers’ terms and conditions.
“Catastrophic job losses”
Unite’s Scottish secretary, Pat Rafferty, said the union had put forward additional proposals in an attempt to “stave off catastrophic job losses”.
Ineos director, Tom Crotty, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that his management team would listen to Unite’s proposal.
“If they believe there is substantial differences in where they are now then clearly they have a duty to take that back to the shareholders”, he said.
Ineos announces closure of GrangemouthScotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, insisted there was still room for negotiation between both parties.
Mr Salmond said “proper consideration” should be given to the fresh proposals put forward by Unite.
“If an agreement between Ineos and Unite is not possible then we will continue to pursue our contingency options of finding a buyer for the site”, he added.
Grangemouth stopped production last week amidst a bitter row which had centred on Ineos’ alleged treatment of union official, Stephen Deans. The union called off the planned walkout but the site remained shut.
Ineos then put a “survival plan” to workers warning them the site faced going bust unless they agreed to changes to pay and conditions.
The decision to close the petrochemical plant was taken at a meeting of Ineos shareholders after the proposals were rejected by about half of the site’s workers.
