British Steel has announced it has ended its redundancy consultation, safeguarding more than 2700 jobs in Scunthorpe.<\/p>\n
The announcement came after the company officially withdrew the HR1 consultation form it had submitted to the Department of Business and Trade on the 27 March.<\/p>\n
The move is part of ongoing efforts to stabilise British Steel\u2019s blast furnace production following the government passing the Steel Special Measures Act in April.<\/p>\n
Lisa Coulson, interim chief commercial officer said: \u201cThis has been a difficult and worrying time for British Steel staff and their families. I can however confirm that we are closing the redundancy consultation without action.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the Government passed its legislation, we have been working day and night to ensure we are able to stabilise our operations. The work done to secure the raw materials we need for both Queen Anne and Queen Bess blast furnaces means we are able to run both continuously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like to thank our trade union partners for their professionalism and the support of their members over recent days and weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I would also like to thank everyone in our workforce for their extraordinary dedication over recent days and weeks. It is your hard work and passion that means steelmaking in Scunthorpe has a bright future.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite simply, British Steel workers are the finest in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jingye announced back in February that it was launching a consultation which could lead to the closure of its two blast furnaces threatening between 2,000 and 2,700 jobs.<\/p>\n
The company said the blast furnaces are \u201cno longer financially sustainable\u201d and it was losing around \u00a3700,000 a day. Jingle had also stopped sourcing raw materials to keep the furnaces ablaze.<\/p>\n
in an unprecedented move, MPs were called back from their easter recess to vote on new laws to stop British Steel\u2019s Chinese owner, Jingye, from closing the two blast furnaces at the Scunthorpe site.<\/p>\n
While stopping short of full nationalisation, the new laws gave the government the right to buy the raw materials needed to keep the furnaces going while it seeks a private buyer.<\/p>\n
Jingye has stopped sourcing raw materials to keep the furnaces ablaze. After the legislation was passed, it was reported that officials from Jingye were blocked from entering the British Steel site by workers, with the GMB union saying the employees were \u2018legitimately concerned about sabotage’.<\/p>\n
In a race against time, \u00a0the government successfully secured the raw materials to keep the furnaces burning. \u00a0This meat the previously planned \u2018salamander tap\u2019 of one blast furnace, Queen Bess, would no longer go ahead.<\/p>\n
The Scunthorpe blast furnaces are the last ones in the country after the Tata Steel owned site at Port Talbot was closed. The UK\u2019s ability to make virgin steel is of vital national importance and is seen by business leaders as pivotal for the country\u2019s future defence and security, especially with the current turmoil in the geo-political world.<\/p>\n
If the two British Steel furnaces were to have closed, the UK would be the only non-steelmaking country in the G7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than 2700 jobs safeguarded in Scunthorpe as redundancy consultation ends<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271992,"featured_media":2122579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"coauthors":[137100],"class_list":["post-2137594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manufacturing","tag-top-story","tag-yorkshire"],"yoast_head":"\n