Corus axes 700 steel jobs in Rotherham

MORE than 700 jobs are to go at the Corus plant in Rotherham, it has been announced. 

The steel company is to cut 713 jobs at the premises, while a further 18 are to go in Stocksbridge, Sheffield, and 93 in Scunthorpe.

A Corus Distribution site in Stourton, Leeds, is also among those earmarked for closure, with the loss of 53 jobs.

The cuts are being made as part of a strategy to cut more than 10% of its UK workforce, around 2,500 staff, and 3,500 jobs worldwide.

The Tata owned company is also to mothball a mill in South Wales and restructure several parts of its business.

It is to mothball its hot strip mill in Llanwern, South Wales, and restructure its engineering steels business, which will affect factories including Rotherham.

It is aiming to reduce its overall costs by around 20%.

Corus currently employs around 42,000 workers around the world and is aiming to make the cuts through voluntary redundancies.

Corus chief executive Philippe Varin said: “The structural changes we are proposing today have been carefully considered. They are essential for the future of the business.”

Corus has also announced proposals to restructure its engineering services at its Scunthorpe plant.

The proposals include plans to keep the Bloom and Billet Mill open in Scunthorpe so it can supply steel to the Thrybergh Bar Mill in Rotherham.  

In November last year Corus announced that it was to start immediate consultation with workers to try to achieve job losses through voluntary redundancy.

It later said that workers at Scunthorpe were facing pay cuts of up to 11.5% in response to the current economic downturn, which has seen a Corus’s order book drop by more than a third.

Corus has said that it is looking to retrain staff during the current quite period. 

Corus, which has an annual turnover of £12bn, was formed in 1999 following the merger of British Steel and Koninklijke Hoogovens.

In 2007, it was bought by one of the world’s largest steelmakers Tata Steel in an hotly contested acquisition battle.

It is Europe’s second largest steelmaker producing 20m tonnes of crude steel yearly.

The company has also announced changes to its pension schene, saying it will close its defined benefits scheme to new recruits offering them instead a defined contribution scheme.

Union Unite said it would not accept compulsory redundancies.