{"id":18644,"date":"2019-08-16T14:13:50","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T13:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18644"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:55:37","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:55:37","slug":"welcome-oyak-buy-british-steel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18644","title":{"rendered":"‘Massive leap forward’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite has welcomed the news today (August 16) that the Turkish military pension fund Oyak has entered into exclusive talks with the government to buy British Steel.<\/p>\n

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Oyak announced on Friday that its subsidiary Ataer Holding has been granted the exclusive right to carry out due diligence of the steel firm for the next two months, with a full transfer expected before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

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The move will save about 5,000 jobs, most of which are based at British Steel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s steelworks in Scunthorpe.<\/p>\n

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News that Ataer Holdings is the preferred bidder comes after the ailing British Steel fell into compulsory liquidation in May, following the government refusing to grant its previous owner Greybull Capital a \u00c2\u014130m emergency loan to keep the company afloat.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe overwhelming feeling of the 5,000 workers at British Steel is one of relief,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite national officer Harish Patel.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSince May the workers have had their lives put on hold with the future of the company and their jobs being placed in an extremely precarious position.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Patel noted that while today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnot the end of the process\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, it is still \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba massive step forward\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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In a statement from Oyak today (August 15), the pension fund\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s potential purchase was described as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bone of the biggest achievements of the Turkish steel industry\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Oyak lauded British Steel which it said \u00e2\u20ac\u015boffers to create high value with its strategic products and industry know-how\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It added that during the exclusivity period over the next two months, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bclose negotiations\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 with stakeholders including trade unions is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsignificant for the future success of British Steel\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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The government recently committed a \u00c2\u0141300m package to support the sale of British Steel, which will include a mix of grants, indemnities and loans. It has been reported that Oyak paid \u00c2\u014170m for British Steel; the pension fund has committed to investing \u00c2\u0141900m with the hope of doubling production at the steelworks in Scunthorpe.<\/p>\n

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Patel told the BBC this afternoon that workers \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhave been positive\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 about the latest news.<\/p>\n

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Unite British Steel convenor in Scunthorpe Martin Foster agreed.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is exceptionally good news today for the workforce,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he told UniteLive. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been waiting since May 22, not knowing what the future will hold \u00e2\u20ac\u201c whether or not the plant would close.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday is a huge leap forward and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given us the confidence to be hopeful for a future for British Steel.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Harish Patel welcomed the news, he said the government must take action to ensure British Steel is a success no matter the buyer.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn order to secure the long-term future of British Steel and the UK steel industry there remains a requirement for the government to keep its eye on the ball and provide assistance to tackle problems of high use energy costs and business rates,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government must also introduce a proper industrial strategy which tackles procurement issues to ensure that public contracts use UK steel.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is also essential that the government acts to prevent a disastrous no deal Brexit which would lead to cheap steel being dumped in the UK market.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite has welcomed the news today (August 16) that the Turkish military pension fund Oyak has entered into exclusive talks with the government to buy British Steel.   Oyak announced on Friday that its subsidiary Ataer Holding has been granted the exclusive right to carry out due diligence of the steel firm for the next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[962,1211,269],"wps_subtitle":"Unite welcomes Turkish pension fund Oyak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tentative deal to buy British Steel","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25078,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18644\/revisions\/25078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}