8:06am Friday 10th July 2009
By Stuart Arnold
UNION bosses will today attempt to come up with a “battle plan” to halt the haemorrhaging of chemical jobs on Teesside.
A meeting called by the union Unite will primarily discuss the planned closures of the Dow and Croda plants at the Wilton International site, near Redcar, but will also take into account other recent cuts in the industry.
Bob Bolam, a regional organiser with Unite, said: “We aim to get the members’ feelings and reactions and come up with some sort of battle plan to take the issues to the heart of Government and see if there is any way we can try and influence the decisions that have been made.”
The impending closure of the Dow and Croda plants will cost about 200 jobs, and there are fears that losing Dow in particular will have a serious knock-on effect on neigbouring chemical companies.
Dow is the only UK manufacturer of Ethylene Oxide, a raw material of products such as shampoo and soap, which is widely-used elsewhere on the site.
Ashok Kumar, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, said there was still a “large window of opportunity” with regards to the Wilton site in which there had been ongoing investment.
Meanwhile, there was further bad news at Corus yesterday with the firm announcing 366 jobs are under threat at its Scunthorpe steel plant.
The news followed a public meeting on Wednesday night which discussed the possible mothballing of the Corus plant at Redcar, where 3,000 jobs could go.
Geoff Waterfield, multiunion chairman at Corus on Teesside, said further job cuts could place the company in “jeopardy” and unable to compete if and when there was an upturn in the economy.
He said: “There is a danger that we are cutting away the real foundation of the company with the skills and the knowledge that the workforce has.”
Mr Waterfield said the meeting had been an opportunity for the workforce and the local community to share their concerns and “find out where we are at”.
He added: “The North-East is taking a good pummelling at the moment as a manufacturing hub and this Government needs to take note and do everything it can to support it.”
Richard Green, a member of the Community union, who works at the Redcar plant and chaired the meeting in Dormanstown, said: “The meeting was a good opportunity to address people’s concerns and the effect that any closure would have on the local community.
“People left the meeting determined to continue the campaign to save steelmaking on Teesside.”
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