Corus to cut hundreds of Yorkshire jobs

CORUS is to cut 2,000 more jobs across its UK plants including at Rotherham and Scunthorpe.

It is though around 500 white-collar jobs will go at Scunthorpe with a further 377 at risk in Rotherham.

Hundreds of jobs are also expected to go at Teesside and Hartlepool as well as other centres around the country.

The Indian-owned steelmaker has yet to announce the job losses but unions said the cuts were “devastating”.

The news comes on top of 2,500 job losses announced in January and unions are now warning the Government that the sector is fighting for survival.

General secretary of the Community union Michael Leahy said that it was devasting news for its members and their families in steel communities across the UK.

Peter Hogg, a commercial director at Corus, said that the firm itself was surprised by the extent of the global recession adding it was clear that a full recovery would be years away.

Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel and is Europe’s second largest steel producer. Operations are in the UK and Holland.

Calls are being made for voluntary redundancies where possible by Labour MP Elliot Morley, who confirmed the news.