Unions call for swift action
Union bosses this week called for action to save the crippled UK steel industry.
Comment in g after the announcement that Tata is to end production at Dalzell and Clydebridge, Grahame Smith, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) General Secretary said:“This announcement is a crushing blow for the workforce and the communities of Cambuslang and Motherwell.
“While we welcome the decision to mothball the plants, it is essential that the UK and Scottish Governments now respond with the speed and gravity the situation demands.
“The Scottish Government must work with the Tata and the trade unions to provide a package of assistance to sustain jobs and the skills base whilst a strategy for the sector’s future development is agreed and implemented,” he said.
Responding to the announcement, Roy Rickhuss, General Secretary of steel union Community, which represents the majority of workers affected said: “Our immediate thoughts are with the workers and their families who will be affected by this announcement.
“Community representatives will be looking to sit down with the company, to understand the detail and to look at all alternatives that save jobs and uphold our principle of no compulsory redundancies.
“The government should hang its head in shame at today’s news. The cruel irony of the Prime Minister welcoming the Chinese Premier as UK steel jobs are cut partly due to Chinese steel dumping will not be lost on the UK’s steelworkers and their communities.
“UK steel making is on its knees but I know that steelworkers across the UK are determined to fight for their future for the sake of their jobs, their families and their communities.
“There is also a role for the Scottish government to ensure that today’s news does not signal the beginning of the end of Scotland’s steel heritage and that they honour the commitments they gave over the weekend to intervene in the interests of steel making in Scotland.”