THE promise of providing beleaguered North-East steelworkers with hi-tech jobs has proved to be empty.

On Valentine's Day this year, as union leaders prepared to meet Corus bosses following its decision to axe more than 6,000 jobs nationwide - including 1,100 on Teesside - it was revealed that a communications company was looking to employ steelmen.

Exi Telecoms, based in Cheshire, promised to retrain 4,000 steel workers under a joint initiative with the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union and the Department of Trade and Industry in jobs connected with the third generation mobile phone industry.

The timing of the announcement caused a huge row among the unions, with Michael Leahy, general secretary of the Iron and Steel Trade Confederation Industry dubbing the idea as "a cruel fantasy".

Now it has emerged that not one steelman has been offered a job with Exi because the company failed to win any of the contracts on which the jobs were dependant.

Tony Poynter, chairman of the multi-union steel committee at Teesside, said that at the time the jobs had created interest among the workers.

"On the day, Mick Leahy said it was a cruel fantasy and to date, they have not found one person a job. This vindicates what he said at the time."

He revealed many had visited a job information site at the works set up by the Government to inquire about Exi jobs.

But he said a package put together by the unions and managers meant they had so far found replacement jobs for all but 50 of the coil plate workers employed at the Lackenby mill.

A spokesman for the AEEU said at the time the union believed there was a very bright future in the mobile phone industry.

He said: "The bottom has fallen out of the mobile phone market but we are still hopeful that Exi is able to secure those contracts and there will be work there. It would be wrong if we as a union did not look at other options for jobs for those facing redundancy.