{"id":7444,"date":"2016-01-26T16:31:33","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T16:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=7444"},"modified":"2016-01-26T16:31:33","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T16:31:33","slug":"buy-uk-steel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=7444","title":{"rendered":"Buy UK steel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Central to supporting the UK steel industry \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which has seen more than 5,000 job losses since this summer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is a public procurement strategy.<\/p>\n

 
\nSimply put, if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made in Britain, it should be made with British Steel.<\/p>\n

 
\nCampaigners have urged large construction firms in the UK, which benefit from millions of pounds in public contracts, to sign a charter pledging to use UK steel in all their projects whenever possible.<\/p>\n

 
\nBut so far, none of the six major construction companies has committed to signing.<\/p>\n

 
\nOne construction company, BAM Construction, explained to the Mirror<\/em><\/a> that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe way the Charter is currently worded, we wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to stick to it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nBAM\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parent company BAM Nuttall won a \u00c2\u0141695m co-contract to upgrade Victoria Station in 2010, and also won a \u00c2\u0141500m contract the year previous to upgrade Tottenham Court Station.<\/p>\n

 
\nKier, a firm which refused to comment on whether or not it would sign the Charter, recently reported a dramatic spike in profits, up 17 per cent, amounting to a pre-tax total of nearly \u00c2\u014186m.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe company has been involved in many public contracts, including HS1, the UK Supreme Court and, most recently, a \u00c2\u014140m Birmingham city council contract to build 300 homes.<\/p>\n

 
\nConstruction firms Interserve and Wates also refused to comment, while the company Mace, which has worked on the Shard and Emirates Air Line said it is currently reviewing its position on the Charter.<\/p>\n

 
\nA sixth large construction firm, Willmott Dixon, said it would sign the charter once construction firms in the industry umbrella BuildUK reached a consensus.<\/p>\n

 
\nSteel campaigners have called for a meeting on Thursday (January 28) to again press construction companies to adopt their pledge to support the industry and so boost the overall economy.<\/p>\n

 
\nA spokesperson for the Charter for Sustainable British Steel that the upcoming meeting was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcrucial to ensure construction companies play their part in protecting these livelihoods.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nBeyond supporting steel jobs and the wider UK economy, the Charter notes<\/a> that construction companies should use UK steel because it is a high-quality product, and because it adheres to the Framework Standard for Responsible Sourcing (BES 6001).<\/p>\n

 
\nThis means that all UK steel passes through a certification process which guarantees that all the materials used to make it were done in an environmentally and socially responsible way.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite national officer Harish Patel for steel argued that the government must do more to urge construction companies to use UK steel.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDavid Cameron needs to step in and make a compelling case that these six UK construction giants should buy UK steel,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese building firms benefit from massive public sector contracts and they have a moral duty to support the UK steel industry in its time of dire need.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe UK steel is of the highest quality and would grace any construction project,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Patel added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese firms should disregard selfish short-termism, look to the national interest \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and sign the charter.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUK manufacturing and construction are closely linked and need to work together for the benefit of the economy and job creation\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite has long called for a joined up industrial strategy which puts UK steel at the heart of major infrastructure projects. Find out more here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Central to supporting the UK steel industry \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which has seen more than 5,000 job losses since this summer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is a public procurement strategy.   Simply put, if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made in Britain, it should be made with British Steel.   Campaigners have urged large construction firms in the UK, which benefit from millions of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[430,269],"wps_subtitle":"Construction firms urged to sign charter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7444"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7449,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7444\/revisions\/7449"}],"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=7444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}