Action plan to save jobs at Corus

The livelihoods of 2,000 workers and a further 1,000 contractors at the plant in Redcar, east Cleveland, were put at risk last week when a consortium of four international companies reneged on a ten-year agreement to buy 78 per cent of the steel it produces.

Hundreds of workers are travelling from Teesside to Birmingham today to join the Unite union’s national Unite for Jobs march. Organisers are seeking to persuade the Government to make protecting jobs the number one priority as the recession bites.

Ahead of the march, Unite leaders met Corus officials in London yesterday to formulate a joint plan of action.

Prior to the meeting, the union said that while it believed the consortium’s actions had put the plant at risk, it was necessary to remind Corus that the workers were its employees and as such it was the company’s “duty to do everything possible to prevent Teesside from becoming a relic”.

Speaking last night, a union spokesman said the discussions between the parties had gone well.

While he said he was unable to discuss in detail the conversation, he said: “It was a positive meeting and, while everything is going to be done to try and get the consortium back on board, as a back-up, the unions and Corus have agreed to set up a joint working group to explore all available options to keep the Teesside plant going.

“I cannot go into any more detail than that, but there is a commitment from both sides to endeavour to do everything that they can.”

Unite’s national officer for the steel industry, Terry Pye, said the North-East workers were fighting for their very futures.

“Hundreds of Teesside workers and their families will join Unite’s march for jobs in Birmingham,” he said.

“They are now fighting to have a future which is why, along with thousands of others, they will be making it loud and clear that they want the Government to do everything possible to protect jobs during the recession.”