Workers at Corus’ Teeside plant will vote on industrial action after the company failed to offer guarantees on the plant’s future, the Community union said this week.
Corus began to partially shut down the plant last month after a consortium of companies broke off a 10-year contract to buy steel from the plant. Community, which expects 1,600 redundancies, believes at least one “credible buyer” exists.
A Community spokesperson said: “Unless Corus dramatically change their direction, we will ballot for industrial action. The only thing that will prevent a ballot now is action from Corus.”
“They need to stop the redundancies. They need to set the conditions for the resumption of production, or they need to sell the plant.”
MPs on the North-East select committee last week called on Corus to retain enough skilled labour to keep the plant open.
Corus said it was seeking to work constructively with unions on all issues around the factory.
