Decision due on steel plant's future

Steel giant Corus - formerly British Steel - is yet to reveal whether a key south Wales plant employing 3,000 workers has a future.

Unions have been waiting to hear whether a blast furnace at Llanwern Steelworks near Newport is to be re-lined to continue steel production.

The company - formed by the merger of British Steel and the Dutch firm Hoogovens - has promised that the crucial decision will be taken this month.

But Corus confirmed on Wednesday that the result of the meeting would not be made public immediately.

The decision not to make the meeting's findings public was criticised by the Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, Mike German.

He accused Corus of using the media to soften the blow of bad news for its workers.

Jobs have been lost at Port Talbot

Llanwern - like other UK steel plants - is facing a difficult future because of the strength of the pound.

But Michael Leahy, general secretary of the ISTC union, said he remains optimistic about the plant's future.

"There are two reasons. Corus - at the merger - said quite clearly and emphatically that they wanted to produce 20 million tonnes a year and go for growth.

"Without the re-lining work taking place it can't happen and would be a betrayal of the workforce," he said.

"They also have a full order book and if they give up the furnace they pass their orders to their competitors."

Wage rates

Corus, which also has plants in Europe, directly employs 3,000 people at the Llanwern plant, with hundreds more dependant on contract work.

The company has already shed 4,000 jobs across the UK - 450 in Llanwern - in the last couple of months.

Some have been lost at the company's other Welsh plants, but many more have gone at Scunthorpe, Rotherham and in the Netherlands.

Corus chief executive - Welsh-born John Bryant - said last week that wage rates and the cost of power are affecting profitability.