Not only economic benefits to restarting blast furnaces (From The Northern Echo)

Not only economic benefits to restarting blast furnaces

1:11pm Tuesday 16th August 2011 in North-East Business Features By Owen McAteer

Since 2009, Business Editor Owen McAteer has reported the potential negative impacts of steelmaking disappearing from Teesside. With a date set for relighting the furnace, he looks at the positive social impact its restart will have.

ANYONE unfamiliar with Redcar who visited in the past six months or so could be forgiven for thinking its people are among the most upbeat in England.

Last week Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) UK’s human resources director Joanne Davies, a native Teessider, said she had noticed a lift in people’s spirits.

It followed the announcement in March that the Thai firm had completed its £291m deal for Tata Steel’s former Teesside Cast Products plant, not only saving 700 jobs, but creating hundreds more.

The good news has continued with SSI last week launching its drive to recruit up to 1,000 workers, more than originally anticipated.

But the red letter day for those who had battled to save the plant and with it North- East steelmaking was finally announced on Friday.

All being well, SSI wants to restart production on Thursday, December 8, which will mark the end of one chapter, the battle to save steelmaking , and the start of a new one, where the industry can look to the future.

Despite the buoyant mood, it is worth remembering that the scars run deep for many of the steelworkers and their families over what they have endured since their futures were put at risk when an international consortium tore up a supply agreement in May 2009, leading to the plant’s mothballing the following February.

Last week, SSI-UK chief executive Phil Dryden and SSI multi-union chairman Geoff Waterfield drew attention to the fact that for the many of those who had worked at the plant before, it will be the day the first steel slab rolls out, probably on December 11 or 12, that they will finally believe steelmaking has returned.

Redcar and the wider Teesside area could have been a very different place if steelmaking had gone forever.

Figures released when the mothballing of Teesside Cast Products was carried out painted a bleak picture.

As well as the 1,700 jobs directly affected, there was estimated to be up to 8,000 more at risk as a consequence of the then Corus plant’s closure.

As well as those working in the industrial supply chain, the woman who runs a local shop, the guy who runs a cafe, the local painter and decorator or roofer who does up people’s homes, they would have all been at risk without people having money in their pocket to spend on their services.

One only has to look at the well-documented issues some of the former County Durham mining villages have endured with drugs and petty crime since their pits closed to understand the impact of losing major employers.

The effects of social deprivation, poverty and petty crime were starkly illustrated last week with the rioting in London and other cities.

Mr Waterfield, who led the drive to save the North-East steel industry, said that if investment was made to bring and keep big industries in the UK, everyone benefited.

He said: “I would like to think this is not just a North- East story, I would like to think this is something we can hold up as an example.

“There is no way this country can survive long-term on only medium and smallsized businesses.

“A lot of small shops eke out a day-to-day living, but they will thrive and employ people if there is a lot more big industry.

“It does not matter who owns the businesses, the reality is the knock on into the economy comes from a workforce with good wages.

“It is the feelgood factor; if everybody is working, they have a bit of money in their pocket to pay their bills and afford a few nice things.

“There is less deprivation and poverty and less crime or drug and alcohol problems.

All these things get smaller.

The more deprivation there is, the larger the other issues become.

“It is a massive cost to the Government so, by investing in big industry, a lot of your other costs diminish and money can be put into other areas.”

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council leader George Dunning, a former steelworker, agreed that having work helped to dilute social problems.

He said: “I was a young man once and when I worked in the steel industry, my surplus energy was channelled into work.

“With SSI looking to recruit the younger element as well as experienced workers, it does look good for the future.

“There is a lot of hope there for young people in this area.

“I had 30 years in the steel industry and when I started out in the mid-Sixties, there was a lot of cameraderie and you made a lot of friends.

“You could always look up to the senior steelworkers who would mentor and advise you and I think you will get a lot of that back.

“I think this mix of the senior hands and younger element will be really good, not just for the local economy, but for the social side as well.”

Mr Dryden last week outlined his determination to see the plant run in a way that will mean steelmaking thrives, pointing out that it was down to more than practical skills.

In starting the online recruitment process, SSI drew attention to the values it expects its workers to have and encouraged potential employees to read them before applying.

In a message on its recruitment page, Mr Dryden made it clear he believed that achieving the firm’s goals for the future was dependent on people believing in its values, which would be reflected in the way it does business and underpin the working culture.

They included honesty, integrity, respect, driving for excellence and improvement and professionalism.

He said they will need to be demonstrated and committed to by successful applicants.

The firm is already investing time and money in upgrading the facilities at the plant, so it is capable of competing with the world’s other steelmakers, but Mr Dryden believes that the culture he is instilling is also an integral part of ensuring it will be successful for decades to come.

He said: “The thing that makes the difference is the people – particularly in the steel industry where you have large numbers of people – getting people on board so they are engaged with the business and what we are trying to achieve from a goals perspective and respect each other. That actually is the difference between winning and losing. You can have the snazziest car in the showroom, but without the people engaged, this still will not work.”

He said it was important that people knew what they were signing up to and that their attitudes and motivations for working at the plant were right.

He added: “When we start to look at who we bring back, we have to make sure we bring people in who know what they are walking into; it is not just getting the right skills sets, it is getting people who know what they are walking into and they are happy with that.

“We are not Tata Steel and we are not British Steel. For me, it is about trying to find how we can be attractive to the 55-year-old steelmaker as well as the 25-year-old potential steelmaker.”

It seems there are many people willing to sign up to the culture. Mr Dryden said he was delighted with the response, with 2,500 firm applications and more than 7,000 registrations of interest in the first five days, and added: “I would love to think people are also taking note of the culture and not just applying for a job because it is a job.”