‘Move aside’ call over Corus chief

Mar 11 2010 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

REDCAR MP Vera Baird has called for Corus’ under-fire chief executive Kirby Adams to be moved aside if he cannot be trusted to do a deal over the stricken Teesside Cast Products Plant.

In an open letter to the vice-chairman of Tata Steel in India, she says that although she has personally defended Corus from some of its toughest critics in the past - including fellow Stockton MP Dari Taylor - the time might have come for “someone else in the company to undertake the vital sales negotiations from now on”.

Mrs Baird, pictured, who has been the closest of any MP to negotiations taking place between a number of potential bidders, Corus and the Government, has until now been reluctant to target Mr Adams.

But in her letter she refers to his unnecessarily “aggressive” attitude towards a request from her office for information relating to the contentious issue of whether the Corus would benefit from selling the carbon credits attached to TCP when it was mothballed.

Earlier this week, the North East Regional Committee of inquiry into the steel crisis launched a scathing attack on Mr Adams’ handling of the crisis on Teesside, accusing him of arrogance and discourtesy in his response to the committee’s request for answers to critical questions.

In her letter, Mrs Baird appeals to Indian conglomerate Tata to look to its conscience and take is social responsibility to the people of Teesside as seriously as it does that of its Indian workers.

“I know that you take pride in your social corporate responsibility agenda, and that your reputation for caring for the communities that work for you is integral to your business reputation globally,” she says.

“As the largest foreign investor in UK industry today you must have been watching closely the events taking place on Teesside since the Consortium pulled out of a ten-year deal to buy our steel. The values you espouse for yourself are written large on your corporate communications materials. I quote: ‘Tata is one of the world’s most dynamic and trusted business groups. Combining deep ethical values with proven business performance, Tata has a heritage of deep social commitment that has earned the trust and respect of its stakeholders’.”

She says the community has lost faith in Mr Adams, saying his conduct “is the very opposite of what a reasonable person would expect of someone with the interests of our community in mind”.

View the full contents of the letter >>>