Steel workers will march in gala

There are 1,920 employees at the Teesside plant

Workers from the threatened Corus steel plant on Teesside are to march in the annual Durham Miners' Gala on Saturday.

Up to 2,000 jobs at Teesside Cast Products in Redcar are at risk, after an international consortium pulled out of a deal to buy steel from the plant.

A meeting of staff, union officials and management on Wednesday was told workers would take part in the gala.

About 50,000 people are due to attend the so-called "big meeting", which is rooted in the area's mining industry.

Corus bosses have admitted there is little hope of saving the plant, although union officials are pressing the government to step in.

General secretary of the Community union, Michael Leahy, has urged ministers to bring forward infrastructure projects so steel from the plant can be used.

Consultation period

He has also suggested that wages could be subsidised until the country emerges from the recession.

Corus said 366 jobs were going at its plant in Scunthorpe, north Lincolnshire.

The job cuts are on top of 500 job losses at Scunthorpe as part of 2,000 cuts announced last month following a slump in demand for steel products.

In May, it was announced the Redcar plant was set to be mothballed after the early end to the contact by four international slab buyers.

The agreement was signed in 2004 and committed the consortium to buy just under 78% of the plant's production for 10 years.

A 90-day consultation period is currently being held.

Internal orders from Corus mean the plant only has enough work until August.

The gala, which is being held at the former Durham Racecourse, began as a memorial to miners who died working in the pits.

It was first staged in Wharton Park, Durham, in 1871 by the Durham Miners' Association, which had been formed two years earlier.

At its peak, in the 1950s and 1960s, the gala attracted crowds in excess of 300,000.