Corus workers’ show of steely determination

Jul 19 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

Catalogue of steel plant’s sad decline

ON Friday May 8 thousands of North East steelworkers arrived at work to learn news that the Corus plant could be mothballed.

Minutes before breaking the news to workers, MD Jon Bolton told the media: “The stark reality is that we do not have any orders. It will mean mass redundancies.

“They will be coming in to the worst possible news.”

Their agony was compounded two months later on July 10, when Corus revealed plans to cut another 366 jobs just a fortnight after saying it would axe around 2000 staff, including 400 on Teesside.

The business, owned by Indian giant Tata, said that 366 posts were “at risk” at its site in Scunthorpe in north Lincolnshire, under plans to improve its competitiveness.

The current situation is a world away from the once thriving industry.

For nearly 40 years, the Teesside Cast Products plant near Redcar had been one of the most enduring success stories of the region’s once massive steel industry.

Its strong record of productivity and efficiency had enabled it to sign up the agreement with four of Europe’s biggest steel buyers in 2004, which was hoped to guarantee its future for at least a decade. In 2005 it was launched as an independent business.

The plant had managed to weather the decline of its original owner British Steel, where it employed around 25,000 staff less than 30 years ago. Now less than 3000 work in steel in the North East.

It was merged with Dutch firm Hoogovens a decade ago to form Europe’s second biggest steel company Corus, which was in turn bought two years ago for £6.2bn by Tata Steel, the world’s sixth biggest steelmaker and sister company of Tata Motors, owner of the now troubled Jaguar Land Rover.

The acquisition may have sent Tata Steel’s earnings up 60pc to £1.2bn last year but tough competition has squeezed prices.

The global economic crisis has hit its biggest customers in the housing and motor industries. Its other UK plants are currently operating at 50pc of capacity.

In December Tata announced 3500 jobs would be cut at Corus.

TCP initially escaped the cuts, relying on its deal to guarantee sales of 78pc of its output.

But the collapse of that deal has led to the Save Our Steel campaign to save the industry, headed by a host of Government and leading North public and private sector figures.