{"id":5918,"date":"2015-09-25T15:41:36","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T14:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5918"},"modified":"2015-09-26T17:15:57","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T16:15:57","slug":"steely-resolve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5918","title":{"rendered":"Steely resolve"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Redcar steelworkers were paid today, but only because the taxman fast-tracked money owed to their employers SSI iron and steel makers. And despite the possibility they won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be paid next month, says Unite SSI convenor Kevin Cook, people are turning up for work.<\/p>\n

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The workforce are doing so, he says, because of a deep determination to keep the plant running, secure jobs and maintain their employment rights. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere was relief today at 11am when we were told that people would be paid. But we also know that the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s position is no different now than it was at 9am this morning.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Buoyed up<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\nThe workforce were buoyed by last night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (September 24) torchlight rally he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt went down really well given the fact we only had a few days to organise it\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kevin told UniteLive. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bA few thousand people came with their families and there was extensive media coverage, raising the profile of what is happening here.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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The threat to 3,000 jobs at SSI and a further 6,000 jobs which depend upon the steelworks \u00e2\u20ac\u201c jobs such as those at the local port, coal supply, logistics \u00e2\u20ac\u201c would devastate the town. It would also impact across the north east.<\/p>\n

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For every \u00c2\u014110 of goods exported from the north east of England, nearly \u00c2\u01411 is because of the Redcar plant alone. SSI is also a huge player in a massive carbon capture and storage project to create \u00e2\u20ac\u0098clean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 energy.<\/p>\n

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That project could make Teesside a European and world centre for the ground-breaking technology. But the Tories in Government appear dis-interested in steel and seem to have pulled the plug on carbon capture technology, central to creating the cleaner energy of the future.<\/p>\n

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In a sharp dig at Tory rhetoric local Labour MP Anna Turley told the House of Commons: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is already a northern powerhouse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is called Teesside.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Anyone who has seen the incredible industrial landscape along the River Tees to Middlesbrough would realise that in an instant.<\/p>\n

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But, says Kevin Cook, the government \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem interested.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 And he points out that there are many supportive MPs from all parties who have been horrified at the prospect that steelmaking in the UK is in real danger.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve spoken to people in other plants. Steel is in one of its global \u00e2\u20ac\u0098down cycles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, the global price has suddenly collapsed and China has devalued its currency and flooded the market with cheap steel.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t last forever but UK steelmaking is in a desperate position. Workers in other plants \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not just Redcar \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are worried that if current circumstances remain, the whole UK steelmaking industry could collapse within months.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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As Unite has repeatedly pointed out, there is a desperate need for an industrial strategy which supports industry and builds for the future. At the moment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and if the Government keeps sitting on the sidelines – we could be on the cusp of the collapse of steelmaking in the UK.<\/p>\n

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The treatment of Redcar gives Tory wreckers three hits for the price of one. They could severely damage the steel industry, damage UK exports, and kill off the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s potential for leading the clean energy revolution.<\/p>\n

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The current Tory Government would then indeed be the ones who pulled the plug on the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098northern powerhouse\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Before it had even got off the ground.<\/p>\n

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