Les Bayliss Meets Steelworkers on Teeside

From The Northern Echo:
UNIONS and management working together to secure the future of mothballed Teesside Cast Products (TCP) have set a precedent for the future, the man bidding to lead Unite the union said.

Les Bayliss, who is standing for general secretary of Britain’s biggest union, met steelworkers on Teesside yesterday ahead of the leadership election, which begins next week.

Unions and Tata Steel, formerly Corus, have been praised for working together to try to secure a new owner, with Thai company Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI), proposing to buy the plant. Mr Bayliss said: “It is how we need to be in the future, we need to work with good employers, but challenge bad ones.

“I have been using my experiences at Corus as a good example of where the union needs to position itself.”

He cited the bitter industrial dispute between British Airways and Unite as an example of how not to carry out industrial relations.

Mr Bayliss said: “As soon as there was an announcement of 12 days of strikes over Christmas we were turned from victims to villians.

“We have to learn from that as we are keen to learn from the positive actions of our members here at Corus.”

Mr Bayliss believes steel workers should march across Teesside again, this time in celebration, if SSI’s purchase of TCP goes ahead.


From Evening Gazette:
Steel union positive after talks with SSIEvening Gazette
DISCUSSIONS were held last night between the Thai company hoping to take over Teesside Cast Products and trade union representatives to further push the deal towards completion.

In August, Thailand’s biggest steel producer, SSI, announced plans to take over the Tata Steel site, after signing a memorandum of understanding with the steel giant.

Last night negotiators and officers from SSI and representatives from trade unions and Tata Steel met at the Thistle Hotel in Middlesbrough for further discussions in the hope a deal may soon be done.

Geoff Waterfield, chairman of the multi-union works committee, said: “Last night was an opportunity for SSI and David Reid, interim managing director, to talk to local officials about any concerns or questions people may have. I have had some really positive feedback from the meeting.”

Yesterday assistant general secretary of union Unite, Les Bayliss, visited TCP along with Terry Pye, Unite’s national officer for the steel industry, who are hopeful the deal between Tata and SSI will soon be completed.

Mr Bayliss said he was on Teesside to “celebrate with members the achievements we have made so far”.


He added the meeting at Middlesbrough’s Thistle Hotel was important because it was the first time “most people will have been around the same table at the same time”.

“It is necessary to build relationships and to gain mutual respect and understanding.

“SSI know that the success of the plant will be based on the workforce. So it is now about how they drive the process forward.

“This is the start of the final chapter.”

Mr Pye added: “We are hoping the deal will be done by Christmas.”

Tony Pearson, 49, site convener for Unite at Teesside Cast Products, who has worked at the plant since 1977, added: “We the workers are now more optimistic than we have been in the past few months.

“Hopefully the deal will be finalised in the next few months.

“It would be great to see the furnace be turned back on.”

With 700 staff currently employed at TCP, a takeover by SSI is set to create a significant number of new jobs and steelmaking re-ignited early next year.

The £320m deal with SSI includes Redcar and South Bank coke ovens, TCP’s power generation facilities and sinter plant, the Redcar blast furnace and the Lackenby steel-making operation - plus a 50/50 joint venture between Corus and SSI on the Redcar wharf.

Last month Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of SSI, described the TCP as the “perfect match”.

He also praised Teesside’s enormous pride and passion for steelmaking - describing it as something he has never felt “anywhere else in the world”.