STEEL giant Corus has rejected union proposals to keep the coil plate mill at Lackenby open.

The announcement, which followed a meeting of the strip mill managers and the unions on Teesside this afternoon, puts an end to the 160-year-old integrated steel industry on Teesside and signals the end of the road for the coil plate mill's 234 workers. They now face redundancy as early as June.

Tony Poynter, chairman of the multi union steel committee on Teesside, said a mass meeting of employees would now take place at the Lackenby plant on Friday where steel workers will discuss their next move - and this is likely to involve industrial action.

Mr Poynter added he was very disappointed with the outcome of more than ten weeks hard negotiations.

"I am a bit concerned about the long term future of the works. The coil plate mill is an integral part of the operation and will we have a steel works in three years time?

Morale is very very low in the coil plate mill and there will be a lot of doom and gloom in households across Teesside tonight because the men will lose their jobs."

In February, the Anglo Dutch company announced it planned to axe more than 6,000 jobs across the country - including 1,100 at Teesside, as part of a major cost cutting exercise because of the strength of the pound against the Euro and the high cost of steel making in the UK.

Read more about the Fight for Steel jobs here.

Updated: 17.17 Tuesday, April 17