Threat to 149 jobs at steel giant

One hundred and forty nine jobs at two Corus sites in south Wales are under threat following a functional review.

The steel giant said the cutbacks will be split across the sites in Port Talbot and Llanwern near Newport.

The positions affected are business roles that support manufacturing in the strip products division, such as human resources, finance and laboratories.

A consultation period is to begin on Monday, but unions said the cuts will be "devastating".

A Corus spokesman said they will be talking to unions.

He said it may be that the job loss figure is reduced.

"Our fear is that more job cuts will further undermine the integrity of steelmaking in south Wales"

The functional review was announced at the start of the year at the same time as 528 redundancies at the Llanwern site, due to the mothballing of the hot mill.

The spokesman added that the reduced manufacturing capacity means that roles connected will have to be scaled down appropriately.

Community union general secretary Michael Leahy said: "This is more bad news for Welsh steelworkers, coming as it does on the back of heavy job losses, particularly in Llanwern.

"We understand these jobs are in business support functions and it will be devastating for those affected and their families.

'Our fear is that more job cuts will further undermine the integrity of steelmaking in south Wales," Mr Leahy added.

He added that the union will be trying to minimise the job losses and fighting redundancies.

Last month the steelmaker announced it was cutting almost 2,000 more jobs at UK plants including Teesside, Scunthorpe and Rotherham.

Corus blamed the job losses on a "further deterioration" in steel demand in the US and Europe.

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