‘As sure as night follows day’

Working people from all corners of the UK made their way to the steel city of Sheffield last Saturday (November 21) to defend Britain’s steel industry and convince the government to take action against the forces that threaten to sink it.

With a steel drum band resounding, members of Unite the union, GMB and Community, people of different races, ages and postcodes came together at Sheffield’s City Hall for a common cause – to protect this industrial foundation of Britain.

Up to 15,000 jobs are on the line in the UK steel crisis, leaving families and communities in despair as Christmas quickly approaches. The industry itself could be facing ruin if steelworks across the UK remain destined for the same fate as the desolate SSI site in Redcar.

Unite rep Charlotte Upton (pictured above with son Kydon) is an electrician at the plate mill at Tata Steel in Scunthorpe. In a moving and heartfelt speech she spoke of her hope and fears for the future of the industry her family has worked in for generations.

“Steel is in my blood,” she said. “I want to drive past the steelworks with my son and tell him what it was like back in the day; I want to drive past with my grandkids and point to the cooling towers still billowing out steam and explain what they look like inside.

Sleep walking

“We need a steel industry in the UK, we need our government to have a solid and comprehensive industrial strategy, because at the minute they’re sleep walking into a major UK manufacturing crisis” Charlotte said.

Despite world-class standard of steelmaking, sky-high energy costs and the dumping of subsidised Chinese steel into the European market have destabilised the UK steel industry.

The government, however, insists its hands are tied by EU rules and have been criticised by union leaders for a lack of urgency.

“It’s absolutely critical that our government support our steel industry,” Unite general secretary Len McCluskey told UNITElive.

“If the steel industry dies then as sure as night follows day our manufacturing industry will begin to crumble and the cohesive nature of our society will too,” he said.

“EU legislation doesn’t seem to hinder German, French or Italian governments from protecting their industries. Unfortunately our government are stuck in this ideological trap of theirs – a belief that the market should determine everything.

“It’s our task, along with supporters right throughout our nation to persuade them to think again,” he said.

Charlotte left school at 16 to start an apprenticeship in the steelworks. She said her grandmother, who had also been a steelworker, cried with happiness when she told her she had got the job.

“When I started everyone told me ‘you’ve got a job for life there, the UK is always going to need steel to build’ so it seemed like a secure future for myself and my family, but now I’m wondering whether I’m going to have a job in six months’ time,” she explained.

‘Massive reductions’

“I’ve seen massive reductions in the levels of manning that we have and people I work with have taken pay cuts to try to support the company.

“We’ve been on a constant uphill struggle to try to reduce our employment costs and save money for Tata Steel, but we’ve got to a point where we just can’t give any more.”

Like Charlotte, Dave Walker, Unite branch chairman at Outokumpu Steelworks in Sheffield, said he would be devastated to see the end of steelmaking in the UK.

“I’ve worked all my life in the steel industry, my father worked there before me and I want it to continue through the generations but the way this Tory government are going, they’re going to crucify us,” he said.

Support

In her message of support, shadow business secretary Angela Eagle said Labour would be behind the campaign to pressure the government to act quickly and make certain the steel industry is not lost during this “perfect storm”.

Angela also said the government should take “rapid action in next week’s comprehensive spending review” to implement the appeals of the Save Our Steel campaign.

Video messages of solidarity were also played from French union CGT and United Steel Workers to show they were “not alone in their cause.”

The fear is that steel towns will follow in the footsteps of the closed SSI plant in Redcar, which has left a community in anguish, facing huge unemployment.

Redcar MP Anna Turley said her surgery that morning had been full of skilled steelworkers who still haven’t received redundancies and are desperately trying to find work before Christmas.

“Our town is suffering. Steel was the absolute beating heart of our community and we lost 3,000 jobs in the space of three week,” Anna Turley MP said.

“Redcar and Teeside saw 175 years of steelmaking, from Sydney Harbour Bridge to Canary Wharf, our steel built the world and our government turned its back.”

Unite are working in partnership with unions GMB and Community to protect the remaining steelworks from this grim fate and ensure the industrial future of the UK.

In Wales, Tata Steel has threatened to cut hundreds of jobs at their Llanwern and Port Talbot sites.

“Manufacturing in the UK will be finished if these cuts go ahead. There will be nothing left; if they shut Port Talbot down, they shut South Wales down,” said Malcolm Gullam, Unite branch chairman at Tata Steel Port Talbot.

In his speech, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey directly addressed the Tata Steel CEO Cyrus Mistry imploring him to not turn his back on Britain and to communicate with the union to save the industry.

‘Pick up that phone’

“I’ll meet you anywhere on this globe and at any time that suits, to work with you to save our steelworks. Pick up that phone, we have talking to do,” he said.

But the steel crisis, if left ignored, will wreak further havoc than unemployment.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady commented, “This isn’t just about jobs and communities, important as that is, it’s also about laying the foundations for manufacturing in Britain, paying our way in the world and helping to develop new industries of the future.

“There’s huge solidary across the trade union movement for our steelworkers, and the unions that represent them, but he government needs to start rolling up its sleeves and realising how urgent it is.

“If Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande can do it, then why can’t David Cameron?” asked Frances.

A number of Labour MPs attended the Save Our Steel rally, including Andy McDonald, John Healey and Tom Blenkinsop, who are working with the unions to bring the campaign to Whitehall.

“Having industry, unions and MP’s on the same side, making the same arguments for the industry, it becomes very hard for the government to ignore,” Tom Blenkinsop said.

“I hope the pressure the Labour party has been applying can create the leverage we need to save the industry.”

Pic of Charlotte and Kydon Upton by Mark Harvey