Industrial action ballot announced at Corus Teesside

Steel unions have commenced administrative proceedings for industrial action ballots at the mothballed Corus plant on Teesside.

The National Steel Trade Union Co-ordinating Committee has issued the following statement: "Due to a lack of progress and a lack of clarity over securing an alternative for Teesside we have begun ballot proceedings today. In view of recent legal actions against unions we are making legal and administrative preparations before the ballot opens.

"We were due to meet Corus today, but the company failed to turn up at the appointed time. This is symptomatic of the way Corus has treated the workforce in the past months.

"It is correct that this industrial action threat has been hovering for some time but it is our view that we cannot hold off any longer. We have held off to give Corus the opportunity to deal with this issue with honesty and transparency but sadly this has not happened.”

The ballot will commence on Teesside but other industrial relations issues may mean this could spread to other Corus plants in the near future.

Terry Pye, Unite national officer, said: "This is a road we didn't want to go down but Corus' contempt for the Teesside workforce and the community gives us no alternative."

Michael J Leahy, general secretary of Community, said: "We always believe in the force of argument rather than the argument of force but Corus hasn't listened so we are reluctantly taking this action."

Keith Hazlewood, GMB national secretary, said: "We are very disappointed that Corus has not been sufficiently open and transparent on this issue and so we are proceeding to ballot."

Paul Reuter, Unite national officer, said: "Regretfully, this is the only option left open to us as the business has closed all other doors."