Patience plea to Corus union

Mar 2 2010 by Karen Dent, The Journal

MEETINGS between the third potential bidder for Teesside Cast Products (TCP) took place with Corus yesterday but people in Redcar were urged to be patient as discussions to save the plant and 1,600 jobs continued.

Union leaders have issued parent company Corus with a two-week deadline to find a buyer for TCP or face the threat of national strikes by thousands of steelworkers UK-wide.

The National Trade Union Steel Co-ordinating Committee said it would ballot workers on industrial action when Corus stopped production at the Redcar plant last month and began the mothballing process. It has now given the steel company two weeks’ grace before meeting again on March 15 to decide its next step.

A Corus spokesman said: “At a difficult time like this the focus at our Teesside Cast Products plant has to be on doing everything we can to mitigate the effects of the partial mothballing on those concerned.

“Corus has expended huge effort over the last 10 months to find an alternative long-term solution for TCP. We continue to work hard to try to find such a solution and we remain open to credible offers to buy the plant.

“Any development that seeks to avoid action that would cause damage to the company and this process is to be welcomed.”

It comes as Redcar MP Vera Baird urged people to be patient because the ongoing negotiations would take time. “The last attempt at a deal only ended just before the mothballing was announced in December,” she said.

“People are obviously absolutely desperate for an outcome but we have to face the reality that buying and selling a steel plant is a complex business.

“Despite our urgent need to know the future, we have to give these talks time. The latest, locally-led, interested party only came into play two weeks ago.

“That consortium is so serious that they had two important meetings yesterday and are in close touch with me, regularly, whilst respecting confidentiality. It is not true to say that these serious interests are being over-hyped – though nobody can predict the outcome.”

Two other potential buyers, which have been in the frame far longer, are also continuing talk with Corus about TCP, which hit problems early last year when the consortium that bought most of its steel reneged midway through a 10-year contract.