2000 Jobs At Risk At Corus - "Disasterous news" Says Unite

2,000 jobs are at risk at the Corus steel mill in Teeside after the plant's main customer walked away from "contract"

Teesside Cast Products, which is owned by Corus, has a ten-year contract to supply steel to a consortium of four buyers. However, the consortium has now ripped up the deal, and Corus say that substantial redundancies may now be necessary.

The company, which is owned by India's Tata Group, said that it had begun legal proceedings against Marcegaglia, Dongkuk Steel Mills, Duferco Participations Holding and Alvory to force them to honour their agreement. The four buyers account for 78 per cent of Teesside's 3.5 million tonnes of steel production a year.

Unite National Officer Terry Pye said: Terry Pye, said: “The failure of the consortium to live up to its obligations is potentially disastrous news for these workers at Corus' Teesside plant. The unions will be meeting Corus early next week where we will be urging the company to do everything possible to protect the jobs of the workers at the Teesside plant.

"Our members have worked extremely hard for this consortium and they will be outraged by its decision to pull out of this legally binding agreement and jeopardise the livelihoods of so many workers.”

Steelworkers' union boss Michael Leahy expressed "full support" for Corus in its attempt to pursue the consortium to honour the contract, adding: "Community has also instructed its own lawyers to investigate what action can be taken against the consortium to get justice for our members."

He attacked the consortium's "irresponsible" action, which he warned would have a devastating effect on the workers and the whole community in Teesside.

The company says that that if it was unsuccessful it would "mothball" its 3,000-acre Teesside facility, and said: "Any decision to mothball is likely to lead to a very significant number of redundancies."