Corus Taskforce has better news for Redcar
13 Jan 2010
London – Corus will continue to operate its Redcar’s South Bank coke ovens for the next three years and has delayed the partial shutdown of its Teesside Cast Products (TCP) facility. The decisions follow the first meeting of the Joint Corus Teesside Task Force on 12 Jan to discuss the 1,700 job losses announced last month.
Corus said its decision to continue operating the South Bank coke ovens was in response to an improvement in the market conditions for coke. As a result of this decision about 120 additional jobs will be retained at the facility.
“The outcome of the first meeting secured the Redcar South Bank Coke ovens for the next three years keeping 120 jobs, confirmed Keith Hazlewood GMB national secretary, who represents GMB members at the plant.
Corus has also agreed to consider a trade union proposal to extend its TCP operating programme and postpone the partial mothballing to the end of February. “This extension of the operating period would not affect timescales associated with the ongoing HR process,” said a company statement
With regard to the TCP plant, Hazelwood said “we are still exploring any possibility of keeping steel production on Teesside. Further meetings are arranged for the Task Force next week and the week after and will be ongoing.”
The Joint Taskforce was set up on 18 Dec to explore alternatives to mothballing the Redcar plant with the loss of 1,700 Corus jobs, and those of up to 3,000 contractors, as announced by Corus on 4 Dec. The taskforce is working with various agencies to mitigate the potential loss of Teesside’s core skills base and the effects on the local region and its economy.
