Steely resolve

The Redcar steelworkers were paid today, but only because the taxman fast-tracked money owed to their employers SSI iron and steel makers. And despite the possibility they won’t be paid next month, says Unite SSI convenor Kevin Cook, people are turning up for work.

The workforce are doing so, he says, because of a deep determination to keep the plant running, secure jobs and maintain their employment rights. “There was relief today at 11am when we were told that people would be paid. But we also know that the company’s position is no different now than it was at 9am this morning.”

Buoyed up

 
The workforce were buoyed by last night’s (September 24) torchlight rally he says. “It went down really well given the fact we only had a few days to organise it” Kevin told UniteLive. “A few thousand people came with their families and there was extensive media coverage, raising the profile of what is happening here.”

The threat to 3,000 jobs at SSI and a further 6,000 jobs which depend upon the steelworks – jobs such as those at the local port, coal supply, logistics – would devastate the town. It would also impact across the north east.

For every £10 of goods exported from the north east of England, nearly £1 is because of the Redcar plant alone. SSI is also a huge player in a massive carbon capture and storage project to create ‘clean’ energy.

That project could make Teesside a European and world centre for the ground-breaking technology. But the Tories in Government appear dis-interested in steel and seem to have pulled the plug on carbon capture technology, central to creating the cleaner energy of the future.

In a sharp dig at Tory rhetoric local Labour MP Anna Turley told the House of Commons: “There is already a northern powerhouse – it is called Teesside.” Anyone who has seen the incredible industrial landscape along the River Tees to Middlesbrough would realise that in an instant.

But, says Kevin Cook, the government “don’t seem interested.” And he points out that there are many supportive MPs from all parties who have been horrified at the prospect that steelmaking in the UK is in real danger.

“I’ve spoken to people in other plants. Steel is in one of its global ‘down cycles’, the global price has suddenly collapsed and China has devalued its currency and flooded the market with cheap steel.

“That won’t last forever but UK steelmaking is in a desperate position. Workers in other plants – not just Redcar – are worried that if current circumstances remain, the whole UK steelmaking industry could collapse within months.”

As Unite has repeatedly pointed out, there is a desperate need for an industrial strategy which supports industry and builds for the future. At the moment – and if the Government keeps sitting on the sidelines – we could be on the cusp of the collapse of steelmaking in the UK.

The treatment of Redcar gives Tory wreckers three hits for the price of one. They could severely damage the steel industry, damage UK exports, and kill off the UK’s potential for leading the clean energy revolution.

The current Tory Government would then indeed be the ones who pulled the plug on the ‘northern powerhouse’. Before it had even got off the ground.

• Pic by Mark Pinder