Save Redcar steel

The government’s much vaunted ‘Northern Powerhouse’ risks being nothing more than empty rhetoric unless it intervenes to save the SSI steelworks in Redcar on Teesside, Unite said today (September 28)

The warning came as the union responded to the news that SSI was mothballing the Redcar facility with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

“This is devastating news for Redcar and the thousands of people who depend on the steelworks for their livelihoods,” said Unite national officer Harish Patel. “Steel is the lifeblood of the local economy and runs through the community’s veins.

“The government’s much vaunted Northern Powerhouse risks being nothing more than empty rhetoric unless it steps in with assistance to save the SSI plant on Redcar.

“With so many livelihoods at stake and the UK steel industry at crisis point government ministers need to follow the lead of their counterparts in France, Italy and Germany by pursuing an active industrial strategy which supports the UK’s steel industry,” Patel added.

“Over the coming days Unite will be doing everything we can to support our members and the community and pressing government ministers to intervene and save our steel.”