Corus begins talks on job cuts
ONE-TO-ONE consultations have started with hundreds of Corus steelworkers in Scunthorpe whose jobs are under threat.
It is now more than four months since Corus chiefs put forward proposals to axe up to 866 jobs in the town.
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But the company has not disclosed how many volunteers have come forward to meet that proposed target and how many jobs have been axed to date.
Mick Fell, the chairman of the Scunthorpe works multi-union committee, said: "It is too early to ascertain actual numbers who will leave under the restructuring announcements."
The works leader reiterated the trade unions would oppose 'hard redundancies' if the company failed to find enough volunteers by a Christmas deadline.
Mr Fell added: "Our record in Scunthorpe on hard redundancies is good and we shall make every effort to maintain that record going forward.
"Discussions are still ongoing with Corus and many departments and areas on the Scunthorpe site."
Corus spokeswoman Rachel Cox said it was not possible at this stage to confirm the final tally of redundancies in the town.
She added: "Corus managers have started one-to-one consultations with employees who may be affected by the restructuring proposals announced earlier this year.
"When making redundancies we will seek to utilise volunteers where possible.
"But we must ensure the capability of plants or departments is not jeopardised."
Corus has been told by its owners at Tata Steel to make savings of £1-billion throughout Europe by March 31 2010.
Tata’s newly-appointed managing director Hemant Nerurkar told The Economic Times in India: "Strong measures can never be easy. It is very difficult to adopt such steps.
"You have to adopt a human approach in such situations."
The Tata chief added he believed the economic slide in Europe had stopped - but recovery would take some time.
Kirby Adams, the managing director and chief executive of Tata Steel Europe, the holding company for Corus group, said there were signs of an improvement in Europe since the last quarter.
Mr Adams added: "We are deriving strength from inventory restocking and some speculative buying in steel."
Corus will announce its first half-yearly financial results on November 26.
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by brian, scunthorpe
Monday, November 09 2009, 8:17PM
“they are running it down less staff maintenance not being kept up be classed as dangerous soon and closed . ta ta dont need it now .”
by coldos, ruggy
Thursday, November 05 2009, 7:55PM
“cold hard truth - and where did you gather this information? even if there were any truth that our " benevolent master " channelled money to corus, it would have only been coming back to us, considering the vast profits we made for him since he borrowed billions to buy corus. when mr tata has milked us of all he needs and removes our capacity to his new giant mills, then we all wiil realise what the cold hard truth has been all along.”
by non moaner, the works scunny
Thursday, November 05 2009, 12:41PM
“moan moan moan still plenty of double dippers and workers who are a waste of space ,wake up managers and sort the cream from the crap then there will be plenty of jobs”
by Cold Hard Truth, Scunny
Thursday, November 05 2009, 8:57AM
“Well it hasn't killed you yet Dave....and as for the bloke whinging about his daughter not securing a placement. Did you ever consider that she didn't make the grade ? And Norman.....there is no coincidence. The clues are in the story if you bothered to read it. This news is 4 months old, so how the hell can it be a coincidence.....doh. As for you coldos....Ratan Tata diverted a huge chunk of the money meant for India over here to keep us going through the recession, so where you dug that drivel up from I just don't know. Cue backlash.......”
by dave, smokey old scunthorpe
Wednesday, November 04 2009, 10:46PM
“Shut it down its a health hazard”
by coldos, ruggy
Wednesday, November 04 2009, 7:52PM
“alf - you've answered your own question. why hold on to olduns and not invest in young blood? tata do have vision, but corus uk aren't in it. in 4 years everything we can do here will be getting done in india. the capital investment underway there will be complete, the know-how will have been gathered and learnt. lots of new-build on vacant sites. game over!”
by brian, scunthorpe
Wednesday, November 04 2009, 5:22PM
“they divest with one hand and take with the other, they are running it down cutting back and next thing close it for safety reasons , re-nationalize.”
by Anon, Town
Wednesday, November 04 2009, 4:50PM
“MPG, you have taken the 'Mick' for yrs. Corus' turn methinks. What goes around comes around !”
by Anon, scunthorpe
Wednesday, November 04 2009, 4:13PM
“I totally agreed with you MPG and Alf let the people that want to go go and bring in some of the younger generations.”
by Alf, Scun
Wednesday, November 04 2009, 3:40PM
“Anon sorry to hear about your daughter its just typical Corus inability to manage they have about as much forward vision as Mister Magoo, instead of bringing in some youth and letting some of us olduns out, they cling on to us like crap to a blanket. There's been no serious youth investment since the mid 70's if the works survives the risk of being shipped out to India then they must start looking to a future investment in some young blood.”