STEEL giant Corus is advertising for new staff in the same week as the doors closed on the Lackenby coil plate mill with the loss of 234 jobs.

The company has advertised manufacturing and engineering vacancies at its plant in Skinningrove.

Union leaders who spent weeks wrangling to save jobs in the coil plate mill say these jobs are unsuitable for mill workers.

In March the steel giant announced it would be axing 6,000 jobs across the country, including 1,100 on Teesside.

Union leaders tried in vain to save the coil plate mill from closure, but were unsuccessful and the 35-year-old mill stopped rolling on Wednesday.

Under a deal struck between the company and the unions, Corus agreed to put the workers into other areas of the business.

Tony Poynter, chairman of the multi-union steel committee on Teesside, said: "A number of people have been transferred to Skinningrove, some are going to Scunthorpe and Sheffield and other people are going to other plants in the Teesside works.

"Many have volunteered to retire and some of the younger men have decided to go and find jobs outside and concentrate their futures in another industry.

"These new jobs are for particular crafts skills, not for the ordinary run of the mill product worker.

"The company has been putting more effort in but it has taken a long while to concentrate their minds," he said. "They are trying, their attitude has changed a bit in the last few weeks and they are working more closely with us."

A spokesman for Corus said: "Corus has made it plain that the company's long-term strategy is to recapture and maintain a competitive position as a leading international metals company.

"Part of that strategy requires an equally long-term view about continuing to employ people of the right calibre and with the right balance of ability and skills. Consequently, from time to time we need to recruit people from outside the company.