Sunday, 08 Aug 2010
It is reported that Unions have hit out at a senior government minister for not doing enough to help re ignite steelmaking on Teesside.

Dr Vince Cable Business Secretary of UK was at the Corus run Teesside Beam Mill at Lackenby to announce a multi million pound funding package for 14 projects in the North East, including GBP 1.3 million for carbon capture and storage developments.

Dr Cable said that the 14 projects should create 3,000 jobs and sustain more than 10,000 in the longer term. But he remained largely tight lipped on the potential sale of Corus’ mothballed Teesside Cast Products plant in Redcar to Thai investment group Sahaviriya Steel Industries, other than to say negotiations appeared to be going very well.

It is thought that talks between SSI and Corus about a sale have reached an advanced stage.

Dr Cable said that "We will know soon whether these talk have been successful. Due diligence is being done but I haven’t been told anything new today."

Unions criticized Dr Cable for not addressing the real issues of helping to push through the TCP sale and securing the future of steel making on Teesside.

Mr Geoff Waterfield chairman of TCP multi union committee described the minister's visit as pointless. He said that "He gave no assurances at all. This was purely a PR exercise. If ministers are going to come for photo opportunities they should make an effort to sit down and talk about the major issues."

Mr Waterfield acknowledged that industry could not expect huge financial hand outs from the state, especially with the government overseeing major public spending cuts to reduce Britain's GBP 156 billion budget deficit.

But he said there was a strong case to be made for getting the TCP plant up and running again and utilizing Teesside skills. There would be a massive saving for government in that people will be employed and spending money to boost the economy, rather than claiming welfare benefits and dole."

Redcar and Cleveland Council also expressed disappointment that Dr Cable had offered no fresh clues on the SSI deal.

Leader of the council, Mr Cllr George Dunning, a former Teesside steelworker of more than 30 years, said that "I passionately believe that there remains a place for steelmaking on Teesside and this is still the biggest issue that local people want resolving."

The funding package announced came from the GBP 60 million Tees Valley Industrial Program earmarked for the region’s process sector. It included an announcement by Corus that a skills and training scheme to help TCP workers at risk of redundancy has been extended for a further three months until the end of November 2010.