Renewed hope in steel jobs fight

May 23 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

HOPES have risen that the two parties who could secure the future of the Redcar steel plant – and the jobs of its 2,000 workers – will come back to the negotiation table.

A delegation from Teesside touched down in the region last night after flying to Italy to meet the man with a crucial role to play in securing the future of steelmaking on Teesside.

Redcar MP Vera Baird and representatives from the Community Union and Unite had flown to meet Antonio Marcegaglia, head of the Italian steel giant Marcegaglia .

Marcegaglia is the lead partner in a consortium which last month reneged on a deal to buy 78% of the plant’s orders over the next 10 years, putting the plant’s future in doubt. But Ms Baird, who met senior executives from Corus on Thursday, said last night: “It was a constructive meeting and Mr Marcegaglia said he would be willing to talk to Corus.

“It is our job to ensure Corus will sit down for further talks, so both parties can look for a commercial solution to protect 1,900 jobs.

“We are hopeful both parties will agree on further talks.”

Ms Baird said if the talks go ahead, she hopes they can sort out a deal which would either see the consortium honour their ten-year contract or further pursue a deal which would see Marcegaglia and Dongkuk of South Korea pursue their earlier plans to buy an 80% stake in Teesside Cast Products – the Redcar plant.

Back in the North East yesterday, the Corus Response Group met to hear how the fight to save the plant was progressing.

Alan Clarke, One North East chief executive and Corus Response Group chairman, said: “We fully support Vera Baird in her meeting with Marcegaglia in Italy.

“All partners in the response group are working closely with Corus to explore all channels to see if new orders can be found for the company.

“As part of our work as a response group, we do have to plan for all possible scenarios and are progressing our action plan to analyse staff numbers, skills and future requirements to ensure that if redundancies have to be made in the future, every person affected will be given the best possible package of support to find new work and opportunities.”

Management at the Tees Valley plant have begun a 90-day consultation period with staff and trade unions to discuss the future of the business and its workforce following the loss of the supply deal with a consortium of four companies.

The response group comprises of One North East, Corus, trade union representatives, Redcar and Cleveland Council, Learning and Skills Council, Job Centreplus, Business and Enterprise North East, CBI, North East Chamber of Commerce, Tees Valley Regeneration, EEF Northern, Government Office for the North East and Tees Valley Unlimited.