Thousands of steelworkers and their families took to the streets of Redcar, Teesside, yesterday as part of a campaign to head off devastating job losses in the region, writes Zoe Wood.
Corus, the Indian-owned steelmaker, is threatening to halt production at the local plant after its biggest customer pulled out of a 10-year contract in May citing the global downturn. The Teesside plant is now operating at a fraction of its capacity and could be closed next month.
Up to 10,000 jobs depend on the Redcar site, which employs 1,920 people directly and up to 2,000 contractors. Community leaders warned of a dramatic rise in the number of children living in poverty.
The future of plants in Scunthorpe, Rotherham, Port Talbot and Llanwern also hangs in the balance.
Corus steelworkers in Redcar, Cleveland, England marched yesterday for a campaign to save their jobs, after the closure of Redcar's steelworks was announced in May 2009.

Unite, marchingApproximately 5,000 people, including employees of Redcar's steelworks, other Corus steelworks, Teesport and the local chemical industry, partook in the march, and the Australian Workers' Union also expressed their support.

Trade unions called on the government to help the plant. Roy Rickhuss, Community's National Officer for Steel, said that "we need help, we need support from the government if the manufacturing base in this country is going to survive". He also said that "the government has helped the bowler hats, now it's time to help the hard
hats". Derek Simpson, of Unite the Union, was concerned that "the loss of the Corus plant will rip the heart out of this community". Community also warned that the job losses would increase child poverty rates in Teesside.

200pxVera Baird QC MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Redcar and Solicitor General, expressed hope that Corus at Redcar would regain its main contract. She claimed that "the government is 100% behind, and has played a key role in encouraging these negotiations to resume".

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that "the difficulties that the company is facing are caused by an extreme downturn in demand for steel around the world". The government has offered £5 million (€5.8 million, $8.2 million) to retrain the workers.

10,000 jobs could be lost in Teesside from the closure of Redcar steelworks. 1,920 people are directly employed by Corus in Redcar, with a further 2,000 contractors being employed, and other local businesses relying on Corus' business.