Steel Crisis: Tata Steel confirms 900 job cuts at Scunthorpe plant

Tata Steel has announced the loss of almost 1,200 jobs in the UK, with 900 posts axed at the firm’s plant in Scunthorpe.

The rest of the 270 job losses will be at Tata’s plants in Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland.

This is just the latest blow to the UK’s steel industry and follows SSI’s earlier announcement regarding the closure of its Redcar steel plant, which resulted in the loss of 1,700 jobs.

In addition, news broke on Monday that administrators have been appointed to parts of Caparo Industries’ steel operations, putting up to 1,700 jobs at risk.

Along with high costs of electricity, meaning producing the metal in the UK is uneconomical, Tata said the job cuts were “in response to a shift in market conditions caused by a flood of cheap imports, particularly from China, a strong pound and high electricity costs.”

Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel’s European operations, stated: “I realise how distressing this news will be for all those affected. We have looked at all other options before proposing these changes.

“We will work closely with affected employees and their trade union representatives. We will look to redeploy employees, wherever possible, and minimise employee hardship.

“The UK steel industry is struggling for survival in the face of extremely challenging market conditions. This industry has a crucial role to play in rebalancing the UK economy, but we need a fairer system to encourage growth. The European Commission needs to do much more to deal with unfairly traded imports – inaction threatens the future of the entire European steel industry.”

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised that he will discuss the steel crisis with China’s president Xi Jinping, during his four-day UK state visit.

Roy Rickhuss, the general secretary of steelworkers’ union Community, also commented: “We have had a succession of ministers, and now the prime minister, saying that they will raise the issue of Chinese steel dumping, which we know is impacting on the UK steel industry and the global steel price.

“The prime minister needs to do more than raise the issue. He needs to tell the Chinese premier what action he’s going to take to stop Chinese steel damaging the future of a vital foundation industry in the UK.”

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