Union official's plan for steel strategy

Port Talbot steelworks could benefit from a steel summit

The leader of one of the biggest union's in the UK is to write to the government in a bid to help the struggling Welsh steel industry.

Sir Ken Jackson, leader of the AEEU, has written to Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers to ask for a steel summit to draw up a strategy for the industry.

He will make the announcement at the AEEU's Metals Industries Conference in Blackpool.

The union is concerend that the industry is losing £60m each month in lost export revenue.

Demand for steel has dropped

Last month, Welsh steel workers lobbied both Parliament and the National Assembly about their concerns over the future of the industry.

Union representatives from the Llanwern and Port Talbot plants told MPs and AMs that the strong pound had put thousands of jobs at risk.

Officials also met representatives from the steel firm Corus - formerly British Steel - to discuss future production at its factories.

MPs were told that the strong pound has cut UK steel demand by 10% in the past year, with millions of pounds being lost every month in export revenue.

'A growing crisis'

Bob Shannon, national officer of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, said: "It's not difficult to see we cannot go on like this.

"Joining the euro would give steel the stability it needs to invest and plan ahead," he said.

John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB union, said: "The steel industry is facing a growing crisis.

"Unless the value of the pound can be reduced, steel production and employment will be undermined."