THE saviour of Teesside Cast Products last night emerged as a potential lifeline for hundreds of workers facing redundancy after Tata Steel announced more job losses.

Tata said it would be meeting Thai firm Sahavirya Steel Industries (SSI) after announcing a potential 390 job cuts from its 1,800-strong North- East workforce yesterday.

SSI, which completed its £291m takeover of Teesside Cast Products’ (TCP) plant, near Redcar, from Tata in March, is in the process of recruiting 800 permanent steelworkers, on top of the existing workforce of 700.

It is likely to receive scores of applications from former Tata Steel workers now facing redundancy.

And politicians are hoping SSI may be able to cushion the impact of the job cuts.

Tata is proposing to make 300 workers redundant in its Long Products business on Teesside and 90 redundant from two of its three steel tube mills in Hartlepool.

The firm said it was reasonably confident of achieving most of the job losses through voluntary redundancies, although it could not rule out compulsory lay-offs.

The cuts at the Long Products division, which includes the Teesside Beam Mill, in Lackenby, and its Special Profiles division, in Skinningrove, form part of wider proposals which would also see 1,200 steelworkers in Scunthorpe lose their jobs.

Tata is planning to invest £400m in the Long Products business over the next five years, but said that while investment in its assets was needed to ensure it could take advantage of a future upturn in work, slimming down the division, which has been losing money for the past two years, was also necessary to give it a viable future.

Last night, Tata officials confirmed they planned to hold early talks with SSI to see if the Thai company could offer redundant workers a future.

Tata Teesside works manager Dave Nicol said: “When we say we will do what we can to mitigate the effects (of the job losses), part of that will be having discussions with SSI.”

Jimmy Skivington, regional organiser with the GMB, one of several unions representing Tees Valley steelworkers, said: “There is a chance that some of these lads have the skills that would make them ideal for SSI.

“We will be sitting down with SSI shortly to discuss the next phase of recruitment and we will hope to find work for as many of these workers as possible.”

Redcar Liberal Democrat MP Ian Swales, who was involved in discussions with both SSI and Tata ahead of the TCP deal, said he would contact the Thai firm.

“Despite this bad news today, for SSI there is a batch of experienced steel workers now available to work for them.”

Peter Hobson, who represents Community union members at the Long Products division on Teesside, said his members were experienced steel workers who could soon get up to speed if they transferred to the SSI plant.

Skinningrove makes special- shaped steel components for a range of industries world-wide, while the beam mill makes steel beams used in the construction industry, with demand for structural steel in the UK only two-thirds of the 2007 level.

Mr Nicol said the market was not expected to completely recover for at least four years.

“At present, the Long Products division is losing money, it is not sustainable,” he said.

“Today’s announcement is painful, but we believe this is what will create a sustainable business going forward.

“We need to make sure we prepare the business to be successful in the future.

“At the moment, we are having to size the business based on the demand levels, but it will only be sustainable with a good level of flexibility, so if there is the opportunity to increase output we are in a position to take advantage.”

Tata Steel Europe chief executive Dr Karl-Ulrich Kohler also blamed imminent EU carbon legislation for putting additional pressure on the business.

Mr Kohler said he understood the disappointment at the job losses following the region’s relief after the SSI deal.

But he added: “We can’t risk the sustainability of our total business because the markets in some parts of the business are that bad.”

Mr Skivington said: “Considering the skills these workers have, it beggars belief to think they are being made redundant.

“It is not just about 1,500 jobs because there could be hundreds more at risk in the supply chain as sub-contractors rely on these sites for work.”

The two affected tube mills in Hartlepool took on 100 people last year, after securing a North Sea gas pipeline order, but have no major new orders past the summer.

Tata blamed the deferral of a number of major offshore projects by oil and gas firms in the last two years, only weeks after Chancellor George Osborne came under fire from oil companies for introducing a £2bn tax on them in March’s budget.

It led to a number either halting work or saying they would reassess North Sea investments.

Mr Skivington added: “We are particularly disappointed to see jobs going at the pipe mill. When you look at the amount of work that is going on in the oil and gas sector Tata should have a healthy order book.”

Business Secretary Vince Cable last night established a task force to work with Tata to mitigate the impact of any job losses.