Steel unions to present rescue plan

Unions believe they have a realistic rescue plan

Steel union leaders trying to save almost 800 jobs at the Corus plant at Ebbw Vale in south Wales are expected to hand a rescue plan to management which they believe could save jobs.

Officials at the site scheduled for complete closure claim a lack of investment has led to problems at the works but are confident it could still be run at a profit.

Three weeks have passed since Corus gave workers at each of the threatened plants in Wales time to work out their own individual rescue packages.

Union leaders at Ebbw Vale have now come up with a plan which they say could save the tin-plating works and some of the 780 jobs.

Blair :appealed to Corus to reconsider job cuts

On Tuesday they are due to hold final talks with the Welsh Development Agency which has been helping to draw up a business plan.

Later in the day, proposals will be submitted to Corus.

A union spokesman said it was a realistic plan which could secure a short term future for Ebbw Vale until there was an upturn in the steel industry.

Corus had been due to meet unions next week to discuss the future of 3,000 jobs threatened across Wales.

'Think again'

Those meetings have been put off until later in the month.

Last weekend, Prime Minister Tony Blair endorsed union plans to fight job losses and urged Corus to "think again".

During a visit to south Wales for the Wales Labour conference, Mr Blair met with steel union leaders in Wales for talks over plans by Corus to lay-off 6,000 jobs.

More than half of those jobs are to go in Wales it was announced in January with the closures and cuts at plants in Llanwern, Ebbw Vale, Shotton and Gorseinon.

The unions have submitted proposals to the Anglo-Dutch company, which includes plans for retraining workers.

'Threatened'

And they were reassured by the premier that Wales's steel workforce was "part of Britain's future, not Britain's past".

"I pay tribute to the extraordinary way that the workforce, trade unions and communities have put together a plan to save the threatened plants.

"It is a plan not based on sentiment but hard-headed commercial interest. "We are ready to help in any way we responsibly and legally can but I do urge Corus to listen to that plan with care and think again.

"This is a great workforce - skilled, committed, productive. They are part of Britain and Wales's future and not part of the past."

Jobs boosts

In a bid to boost confidence to a Wales-wide workforce which is continuing to reel from numerous blows over recent months, Mr Blair spoke of "positive signs".

While he said there had been wide-spread redundancies, he highlighted some of the jobs boosts including the creation of 1,700 new jobs at BAe's plant in Broughton, north Wales.

"Yes, there are knocks in the past few weeks, but there are also positive signs for Wales.

"There have been job losses this year but there have also been major job gains in recent months."