Community Union is calling on the Environment Agency to hold in trust the carbon credits for Teesside Cast Products until such a time as steel making is resumed. The mothballing of Teesside Cast Products has led to fears that Tata Corus will seek to sell carbon credits freely allocated to the plant.
According to the union, the failure of Tata Corus to announce conditions which would see the resumption of production on Teesside or to engage constructively with potential purchasers as well as the imminent issuing of 1600 redundancy notices suggests that Tata Corus do not intend to resume production.
Community Union General Secretary, Michael J. Leahy said:
‘I have written to the Environment Agency asking for the carbon credits for Teesside to be held in trust until the resumption of production on Teesside.
‘Tata Corus could also demonstrate their intention to stand by Teesside by placing any allocation related to Teesside steel making in the hands of the Environment Agency. This would be a responsible act that could reassure the Teesside community.
‘Community will ballot our members across the country to pressure Tata Corus into acting responsibly by either talking about a resumption of steelmaking or by having serious discussions with the interested parties seeking to give Teesside a future.
‘Until Tata Corus do act responsibly, I am calling upon the Government to take action to ensure that Tata Corus do not profit through their destruction of the Teesside community.’
In the coming weeks, Community will be joined by the other trade unions in Corus as they ballot members for industrial action across the Corus business.