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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Tata Steel cuts 500 jobs in Scunthorpe, Workington and Teesside


Tata Steel cuts 500 jobs in Scunthorpe, Workington and Teesside

 Tata's Scunthorpe works at night

Nearly 500 jobs are due to be cut by Tata Steel at its plants in Scunthorpe, Workington and Teesside, the company has confirmed.

The planned cuts have been blamed on prolonged weak demand in the construction industry.

About 340 jobs could be affected in Scunthorpe, 90 in Workington and 40 in Teesside.

The company said the cuts would mainly affect management and administrative roles.

'Fragile economy' Chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations, Karl Koehler said: "European steel demand this year is expected to be only two-thirds of pre-crisis levels after falls in the past two years.

"On top of the challenging economic conditions, rules covering energy and the environment in Europe and the UK threaten to impose huge additional costs on the steel industry."

He said they would work with staff and unions during the restructuring to support employees.

General Secretary of the Community Union Michael Leahy said: "We recognise the business has been dealing with a downturn in some of its markets for the past five years. 

"Nevertheless, this news once again reflects the fragile state of our economy and the lack of any real impetus by government to support our manufacturing base.

"Community is seeking an urgent meeting with the company to get their agreement to extending the consultation period to allow for all alternatives to be explored and also to reiterate Community's opposition to any compulsory redundancy."

 

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