Time for action

Steelworkers, members of Unite and other steel unions, received a rousing round of applause yesterday (September 12) at the TUC conference after a composite, which highlighted the trade union movement’s continued fight to save the steel industry, was overwhelmingly carried.

 

 

Addressing conference in support of the composite, Mark ‘Pasty’ Turner, Unite branch secretary for the massive Port Talbot steel works, lambasted the Tory government for lacking the‘ courage to act’, warning that steelworkers ‘would not accept a crisis caused by government cowardice.’

 

 

Calling for a proper industrial strategy, Mark Turner demanded the government gives ‘cast iron’ commitments that UK steel will be at the heart of government supported infrastructure and construction projects.

 

 

He said that the crisis in the steel industry hasn’t been caused by “lack of demand or by some unnamed mysterious ‘market forces’.

 

“It has been caused by a Tory government which lacks the courage to act.”

 

 

Praising steel unions for bringing pressure to bear on the government, he went on to say, “It has been the steel unions who have made all the running – demanding the setting up of the Steel Council, organising the rallies and forcing the government to promise to take a public stake in the UK steel industry if necessary.”

 

 

Turning to the Prime Minister, Mark Turner said, “Just last week Theresa May had the chance to tackle the crisis head on and challenge the Chinese President on his country’s illegal steel dumping.

 

 

“She could have demanded that China halts the illegal offloading of cheap, poor grade steel before the UK would ever support the country’s bid to achieve what it wants – ‘market status.’ But she bottled it.

 

 

“It is clear that today China fails every one of the ‘six tests’ needed to achieve ‘market status.’ China’s currency is not convertible; wages are not determined by free collective bargaining by independent trade unions; foreign companies and joint ventures remain banned.

 

 

“China’s steel industry remains controlled by a regime which actively operates to undermine its trading partners. That’s their strategy, but what did she say? Nothing.”

 

 

Demanding that the government commit to a long-term active industrial strategy to support steel and manufacturing, Mark Turner concluded, “We need a strategy which is active, which is long-term and offers genuine support for our steel industry and manufacturing base which doesn’t include giving cheap multi-million pound loans to Russian steel firms.

 

 

“This must include a firm commitment that UK steel will be at the heart of major new government supported infrastructure and construction projects.

 

 

“That is what a proper industrial strategy must look like,” he noted.  “We will not accept a crisis caused by government cowardice, we will not accept a strategy of managed decline.”

 

‘Fantastic’ support

 

Following a standing ovation in the Brighton conference hall, UNITElive caught up with steelworkers who were heartened by the movement’s wholehearted commitment to saving their industry.

 

 

Unite Shotton works branch chair Anthony Simpson said the support at conference was “fantastic” and Unite Port Talbot works member Kate Jauncey agreed — “It was amazing,” she said.

 

 

Simpson noted that the fight must continue and that, more than anything, what was needed was “more engagement from across all unions in all sectors, not just steel unions — that’s key.”

 

 

“We also need a lot more positive activity from the government, but that can only happen if we as a united trade union movement force it,” he added.

 

 

Jauncey said that she was encouraged by prime minister Theresa May’s talk of an industrial strategy, but she welcomed it only cautiously.

 

 

“It’s a positive sign but again, it’s the same thing we said with the last government — it’s action we need not just warm words. The government is still in the situation of just talking and there’s not been a lot of doing.”

 

 

Unite Tata steelworker from Rotherham Andy Thomson said he was “very impressed” by trade unions’ support of his industry’s cause.

 

 

“It a really reassuring feeling to get this amount of support,” he noted. “I mean we hear about it all the time, but to actually physically see so many people stood up on their feet supporting us to help us save our industry — it’s a really nice feeling.

 

 

Thomson noted that the Save Our Steel campaign being in the public eye has fallen on the wayside following the EU referendum.

 

 

“We need to pick up the pace again — make it frontline news again,” he said. “Even though the campaign has quieted down in the media, we still have the same issues and the urgency is still the same.”

 

 

Despite the many challenges steelworkers face as the government continues to drag its feet, Mark Turner told UNITElive that he still maintains a tremendous amount of hope.

 

 

“What gives me the most hope is the central importance of the steel industry itself,” he said. “We need a steel industry in this country — we cannot function without it. At some point, someone in charge will wake up and grab the issue and say, ‘we cannot allow this industry to fall’. Everyone says it and everyone knows it’s true; the time for serious action has come.”