{"id":8236,"date":"2016-03-30T12:01:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T11:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8236"},"modified":"2016-03-30T16:25:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T15:25:07","slug":"renationalise-steel-now-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8236","title":{"rendered":"Renationalise steel now plea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Late last night (Tuesday March 29) Tata steel UK confirmed steelworkers and their communities worst nightmares \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they are withdrawing from British operation completely \u00e2\u20ac\u201c putting thousands of jobs at risk.<\/p>\n

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Commenting on the now uncertain future for the Tata steel operation in the UK, Len McCluskey, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s general secretary has said that the growing chorus of calls for renationalisation cannot be ignored by the Conservative government.<\/p>\n

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McCluskey made clear that the message must go out now from the Prime Minister that he will take all steps to keep the steel plants functioning and people in work, and that this is vital in order to send the most positive message to potential buyers that the UK is serious about steel manufacturing.<\/p>\n

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In the grip of industrial crisis\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are now in the grip of an industrial crisis.\u00c2\u00a0 Decisions taken in the days to come will determine not just the futures of 19,000 workers and their families, across 14 sites, but the very success of this government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own economic programme,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said McCluskey<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is the time for the government to say categorically, without hesitation, that these assets will be taken into safe-keeping by the nation because without them our economy will not flourish,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

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Jobs are already going in the supply chain because of the uncertainty over Tata\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the big fear is that this will snowball if insecurity is allowed to swirl around the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s steel sector.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe unity of voices \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from business to government \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to say that temporary nationalisation is the way forward must not be ignored,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said McCluskey<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This helped save the Scottish plants and\u00c2\u00a0it has ensured that the Ilva plant in Italy survived.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt must be deployed for the rest of the Tata operation,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

National assets<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese plants are profitable, with the best workers producing some of the best quality products in the world.\u00c2\u00a0 Every single one of these plants and its workers should be regarded as a national asset and as such it is government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s duty to safeguard them for the nation.<\/p>\n

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The scale of the matters is so huge that the Prime Minister must take charge of the strategy from here on in.<\/p>\n

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McCluskey went on to explain that this will send the clear signal to the workforce, the industry and potential buyers that the government is serious and driven about saving this foundation industry.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn addition, the government must act now where the Budget stood silent.\u00c2\u00a0 We need energy costs reduced,” he noted. “Tariffs on cheap imports must rise to the level where they do make an impact \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the UK government could do this today.”<\/p>\n

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Anything less than active government intervention will see a vital sector lost and with it our capacity as a major nation to support our own economy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBillions of pounds have been committed by the Conservative government to the welcome project of renewing our infrastructure but unless this involves UK steel, the promised growth from this initiative will not materialise,” McCluskey noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition, there is the certain pain that will be felt by communities, local economies and the national economy of sending tens of thousands of skilled workers to the dole.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite has urged Tata to consider its obligations to its workforce and the people of this country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere should be no `cut and run\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 from them,” McCluskey argued. “They must give all parties the time to find a buyer and retain the industry so that it can manufacture the steel we need, not simply process cheaper, poor quality imported products.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite extends a hand to the government to say that we will work with them on all serious efforts to keep our steel sector alive.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late last night (Tuesday March 29) Tata steel UK confirmed steelworkers and their communities worst nightmares \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they are withdrawing from British operation completely \u00e2\u20ac\u201c putting thousands of jobs at risk.   Commenting on the now uncertain future for the Tata steel operation in the UK, Len McCluskey, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s general secretary has said that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[430,269],"wps_subtitle":"Unite demands urgent govt action","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8236"}],"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=8236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8237,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8236\/revisions\/8237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}