Saturday, May 9, 2009
Related articles
Location of the United Kingdom
Collaborate!
Corus Group
, the world's fifth largest steel producer, announced on Friday that it may be forced to mothball its steelworks in
Redcar
,
England
. This move would threaten the jobs of the works' 1,920 employees.
Corus may be forced to close its
Teesside
operations as a consortium has refused to honour a 10-year contract with Corus' Teesside Cast Products, which accounted for 78% of the plant's operations. Corus' chief executive, Kirby Adams, said he was "extremely disappointed that the consortium members have seen fit to take this irresponsible action."
Lord Mandelson
,
Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
, said "it is essential that Corus does everything it can legally, and with the government's assistance, to reinstate the agreement".
Gordon Brown
, the
British
Prime Minister, shared this view saying, "We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the contract is upheld." Mandelson also said "we are not prepared to reconcile ourselves to the inevitable closure of this plant".
The leader of
Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council
, Councillor George Dunning, said "Today is like being hit by a mini earthquake compared to what's happened in the past."
Martin Callanan
and
Stephen Hughes
,
Tory
, and
Labour
MEPs
for
North East England
, supported the idea that the government should subsidise wages in the plant on a temporary basis. Hughes and
Fiona Hall
,
Lib Dem
MEP, suggested that the government should apply to the EU's
Globalisation Adjustment Fund
. Hall said "if the worst comes to the worst and jobs are indeed lost, I trust the Government will change its mind and support an application to the European Globalisation Fund in order to fund skills training for those who have lost their jobs."
This move could "bring to an end a fine heritage of steelmaking at Teesside", according to Adams. Steelworks in Teesside, which previously belonged to
British Steel
and
Dorman Long
, produced steel for famous structures like the
Sydney Harbour Bridge
.
Corus had said it was likely there would be a "very significant number of redundancies" and a 90-day consultation period is due to begin.
Corus' owner,
Tata Steel
, are also facing difficulties with another UK operation, automobile company
Jaguar Land Rover
.
Sources
- "
Steel plant could shed 2,000 jobs
" —
BBC News Online
, May 8, 2009
- "
Moves to allay Corus takeover collapse fears
" —
The Journal (newspaper)
, April 30, 2009
- Press Release:
"
Shock and sadness over proposed steel industry cuts
" —
Redcar and Cleveland
, May 8, 2009
- Sudeshna Sen. "
Corus may shut Teesside mill, more than 3000 jobs at risk
" —
The Economic Times
, May 8, 2009
- "
2,000 jobs at risk after Corus client ends deal
" —
The Times
, May 8, 2009
- Press Release:
Bob Jones. "
Consortium’s termination of contract triggers consultations on future of Teesside
" —
Corus Group
, May 8, 2009
- S Kalyana Ramanathan & Ishita Ayan Dutt. "
Little option but to close UK unit: Tata
" —
Business Standard
, May 10, 2009
- Dave Robson. "
Save our steel campaign relaunched to help save Corus
" —
Evening Gazette (Teesside)
, May 9, 2009
- Press Release:
"
Government must do everything to secure threatened Corus jobs
" —
Fiona Hall MEP
, May 8, 2009
|
|
This page is
archived
, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Got a correction? Add the template {{
editprotected
}} to the
talk page
along with your corrections, and it will be
brought to the attention of
the
administrators
.
Please note that due to our
archival policy
, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
|
|
This page is
archived
, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Got a correction? Add the template {{
editprotected
}} to the
talk page
along with your corrections, and it will be
brought to the attention of
the
administrators
.
Please note that due to our
archival policy
, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
|