Steel plant staff face jobs worry
Parent company suffers financial problems
Workers at the Clydebridge steel plant face an anxious wait over their futures as the financial problems of its parent company continue.
GFG Alliance’s owner, Sanjeev Gupta, has insisted that no plants “will close under my watch” after his financial backer, Greensill, collapsed earlier this year.
The UK Government then knocked back Mr Gupta’s claims for a £170 million bailout to support the company, while other investors have started action aimed at winding up parts of his business, which employs over 5000 people across the UK.
Among those investors are Credit Suisse – the Swiss bank that previously provided $10 billion in funding to Greensill.
They have petitioned for a winding-up order on GFG’s commodities trading business
Workers affected include staff at Clydebridge in Cambuslang, as well as the Dalzell plant in Motherwell. GFG Alliance told a court earlier in the year that the collapse of Greensill could place them at the risk of insolvency.
SNP politician Clare Haughey, who is standing for re-election to the Scottish Parliament next month, says she was given assurances while still Rutherglen’s MSP that the plant would not close.
She said: “The reports about Liberty Steel are concerning.
“Last month, I had written to the Scottish Government to see whether they were aware of the company’s issues and if any assistance could be offered to them.
“It was this SNP Scottish Government that saved the steel industry in 2016, so I know ministers take a very close interest in such matters.
“On hearing of the financial difficulties faced by Liberty Steel’s owners, the GFG Alliance, I met with them a couple of weeks ago. They assured me that, despite the reports, Clydebridge and Dalzell in Motherwell, were not at risk of closure.
“Nonetheless, I will continue working with stakeholders to maintain our local steel industry in order to protect jobs and the Cambuslang and wider economy.”
However, the SNP have also been criticised for their dealings with Mr Gupta.
In 2015 the Scottish Government lent him £7 million to buy the struggling Dalzell and
Clydebridge steelworks from Tata, while GFG Alliance also bought the Fort William smelter and hydro plant from Rio Tinto in 2016 in a £330 million deal.
As part of the deal the Rural Economy minister Fergus Ewing guaranteed the smelter’s power purchases from the Lochaber hydro-plant owned by the company for the next 25 years.
Mr Gupta claimed that he would build a new aluminium wheel factory and create 2000 jobs in the area, but the proposals were later abandoned.
The Labour politician James Kelly, who is standing for the Rutherglen seat next month, said: “Once again workers in Cambuslang and Rutherglen are being failed by the Scottish Government’s lack of a proper industrial plan.
“The situation at Liberty Steel is another example of this government’s inability to save jobs long term.
“Workers want the government to step in with proper solutions, not apply costly sticking plasters that see their jobs on the line again in a few years.
“Scottish Labour has called for an Audit Scotland investigation to look at what has gone so badly wrong with this deal, and to establish what threat this will place on public finances.
“More than ever before we need a proper plan for our jobs, industry and economy as we emerge from the pandemic. We need to create and maintain jobs as part of our national recovery.
“The SNP’s short-sighted, halfhearted approach, which never has a backup plan, isn’t good enough for our communities.”
The GFG Alliance also includes the JAHAMA Group, who last March received pre-planning consent from South Lanarkshire Council to develop a 100-bedroom hotel and leisure complex on unoccupied land east of the steelworks in Cambuslang.
Plans for the site also include a restaurant, cafe, bar and stateof-the-art fitness club, with the company claiming that it would help create 50 jobs directly through the hotel, with other roles being supported “indirectly” through the development.