by Keith Richmond
COMMUNITY has urged the steel company Corus to enforce its contract with a consortium which announced last week that it was walking away from a 10-year deal with the firm – throwing 2,000 people out of work.
Corus said it would mothball Teesside Cast Products at Redcar as a result of a decision by its consortium partners – Marcegaglia, Dongkuk, Ternium and Duferco – to terminate a 10-year steel slab deal after just five years. The arrangement accounts for 80 per cent of the output at the site.
Michael Leahy, Community general secretary, said: “We understand Corus is pursuing the consortium to honour the contract. Corus has the full support of the union. Community has also instructed its own lawyers to investigate what action can be taken against the consortium to get justice for our members.”
There was amazement – and then anger – when the announcements were made. The decision affects about 2,000 workers at one of Britain’s biggest steel plants and another 7,000 in the supply chain.
Mr Leahy said: “We cannot believe that the consortium is taking such irresponsible action that will have such a devastating effect on our members and the whole community on Teesside.
“The consortium has made this disgraceful move, knowingly jeopardising the livelihoods of thousands of workers who are the innocent victims of all this.
“These multinationals have reaped hundreds of millions of pounds in profits and are now walking away from their legal, moral and social responsibilities.”
The union is determined to secure a future for steelmaking on Teesside and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged to help Corus win back the order.
