Community Union meets with Corus

General Secretary Michael J. Leahy, OBE with senior Union officials met with Corus management today to discuss recently announced Job cuts. These discussions will be on-going and include talks on the extent to which Llanwern will be mothballed and seeking to avoid the necessity of compulsory redundancies.

Threat to the British Steel Pension Scheme.

Corus have also announced their intention to close the Pension scheme to new entrants. Community will also be arguing against this closure. Corus is one of the last major private companies to retain a pay-related final salary scheme open to new members. The British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) is a most attractive element in the Corus offer to employees and Community safeguarded it in the face of determined challenges. The Scheme is in good shape now but Corus has been taken over by Tata Steel and is renewing efforts to deny new employees the chance to join it. Nearly always, a scheme’s closure to new members has been the beginning of the end of the pay-related pension scheme for all employees.

The recent announcements include in Wales:

Operations are to be suspended at a number of units at the Llanwern site for the foreseeable future – with additional impact on support engineering and transport services. This will affect 528 posts.

The aluminized coating line at Pontarddulais, which has been largely on temporary stoppage throughout most of 2008, will cease production permanently, affecting 52 posts.

A restructuring of the Building Systems business will result in the closure of the Ammanford (73 jobs) and Tewkesbury (147 jobs) sites, and a reduction in manning at Catnic in Caerphilly of 17 posts.

Corus Colors’ Shotton site will be making reductions of 90 posts, but the relocation of plant from Ammanford and its sister plant at Tewkesbury will result in some 100 additional posts at the Building Systems business on the Shotton site.

Following on from the announcement made in April 2008, regarding the Corus Packaging Plus operations in Trostre Works, Llanelli, the full implementation of this restructuring plan will be further postponed until 2010, effectively retaining 120 posts that would otherwise have been made redundant. A further review will take in the Packaging Business at the end of 2009 to reassess the market situation.

Corus has also announced restructuring in engineering steels:

The proposals, which were announced to employees and contractors today, could lead to the loss of 922 jobs. They would lead to extensive restructuring at Rotherham and the centralisation of a number of Corus Engineering Steels’ services, including the closure of satellite sites in Wednesbury (West Midlands), Wolverhampton, Bolton (Lancashire), Hetton (North East) and Slough.

The business, which has its largest sites in Rotherham and Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, is taking steps to reduce costs but will continue to supply the same high-quality specialist engineering steel products to the automotive, aerospace, energy and other industry sectors.

Corus Engineering Steels’ restructuring proposals would lead to the following job reductions:

• Aldwarke, Rotherham – 713
• Bright Bar, Wednesbury – 108
• Midland Service Centre and Bright Stockholding, Wolverhampton – 61
• Hetton stockholding – 11
• Bolton stockholding – 7
• Slough stockholding – 4
• Stocksbridge - 18

Corus Northern Engineering Steel will also be restructured;

The proposals, which were announced to employees and contractors today, would lead to the loss of 417 jobs. The proposals include plans to close engineering workshops in Rotherham. A consultation process with employee representatives will begin today.

CNES currently provides engineering services to both Corus and external companies, but following the implementation of the proposals, it would exit its external work.

The proposals would lead to the following net job reductions (including contractors):

• Engineering areas, Teesside – 47
• Engineering workshops, Rotherham – 277
• Engineering business, Scunthorpe – 93