1700 job losses in the North East
When former owner Corus saw its Redcar Teesside Cast Products plant suffer from lower demand and the loss of orders, the plant was mothballed and the blast furnace eventually turned off.
AS shellshocked Teesside steelworkers face up to SSI UK’s devastating demise, the attention turns to the company’s plant and hopes production can start again.
Community union general secretary Roy Rickhus said: “Steelmaking on Teesside must have a future and our fight to save our steel will continue”.
“As a further effect of the mothballing, it is proposed to reduce by 1,700” the number of employees, it added.
Cornelius Louwrens, SSI United Kingdom business director and chief operating officer, had said: ” The problems within the global steel industry have been well publicised in recent weeks and our decision follows a major deterioration in steel prices affecting our business during the course of this year”.
‘Together with our parent company and the various other stakeholders, they have worked so hard in their endeavours to try and make this business successful’.
“Market conditions this year have been extremely challenging and unfortunately this has led to the decision we are announcing today”.
“I would like to pay tribute to and thank everyone connected with SSI United Kingdom for their great support”. My wish is that this facility can once again restart operations and fulfil the potential of the plant and its loyal workforce.
Some only heard the devastating news through the media or on Facebook.
“GMB will do all in our power to press the case for Government to act and to protect our members and their families”, he promised.
They pointed to the importance of the steel-making sector for the wider industry and the entire economy.
British unions say that if SSI United Kingdom fails it could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds in redundancy and clean-up costs.
The move comes as MPs and trade unions are demanding government action to save the Scunthorpe Tata Steelworks and the rest of the United Kingdom steel industry. He needs to deliver on that.
“We’ve called for an emergency summit with Government to look at what more can be done to support the industry”.
George Osborne’s visit to China to drum up support for infrastructure investment will also be scrutinised in the context of SSI’s announcement with United Kingdom steel firms having raised concerns over Chinese imports flooding the United Kingdom market. Skills honed over the years of working in steel – but they are skills too unique to transfer.
The Redcar plant, on the coast near the industrial town of Middlesbrough, is in an economically deprived region of Britain, where locals fear the loss of thousands more jobs indirectly related to steelmaking.