From anger to devastation

The immediate future of 3,000 workers at the SSI steelmaking plant in Redcar is up in the air after owners SSI UK went into liquidation last Friday (October 2).

 
The move followed an announcement just days earlier that the Teesside plant would be mothballed with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

 
Around 2,000 direct employees are waiting for letters telling them if they are required or not, but in reality all face redundancy. Over 1,000 contractors have already been laid off and are being paid ÂŁ25 a day.

 
SSI and other UK steelmakers blame the dumping of cheap Chinese made steel on the world market at prices below what it costs to make. That, couple with a deliberate devaluation of the Chinese currency have driven down global steel prices.

 
It has been effective as a means of wiping out China’s competitors. The UK government has agreed a ‘steel summit’ in two weeks’ time, a whole month after the day they announced it.

 
Unite convenor Kevin Cook says the mood in Redcar varies from anger, to numbness to devastation.

 
Nightmare

 
“It’s a nightmare, the workers and the area do not really know the scale of what has hit them.

 
“The direct employees are looking at redundancy but won’t get the payments until at least six to eight weeks. Up to two months without money is going to cause a lot of hardship and worry.

 
“Many of the 1,000 contractors on the site have just been laid off on £25 a day. A lot of small companies have not been paid for months, and small contractors not paid.

 
“SSI is in liquidation and the official receiver called in. Many of those companies and contractors will not see much of the money they are owed.

 
“We’ve had cut backs before and we’ve seen the local town decimated with the bigger shops closing, pubs closing and the pound shops coming in. This closure is on a different scale and this area will not recover, it is devastating.

 
“I’m 55 and have never been out of work since I was a 16 year old. There are people here with young families with mortgages who thought they had a decent job and now it’s gone.

 
“There are whole families employed at the plant. They will have lost everything.

 
“The government says it has put some money up – around £80m – but that is to pay for the aftermath of closure. We think some of that will go on redundancy payments and maybe a bit of training so we’ll see how much of that is actually spent.

 
“But little has been done by the government to save the plant itself. And then we hear that the UK taxpayer has given a low interest £45m loan to a company run by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic so he can refurbish a steel works in Canada.

 
Kick in the teeth

 
“Hearing that news was a real kick in the teeth. Talk of a Northern Powerhouse appears to be that – talk, there is nothing to back it up.

 
“What is happening at Redcar can sweep across the UK steel industry. We could arrive in a few years – maybe sooner – and find there is no UK steel industry.

 
“The government needs to decide whether they want a UK manufacturing base or not. If they do, then they need the core industries like steel and others to underpin it.

 
“We had great support when we marched and rallied near the Tory conference on Sunday. The Redcar steelworkers were cheered on by the marchers, it was good, but we need more than backing from our supporters.”