Industrial action ballot announced at Corus Teesside
22nd April 2010
Steel unions have today (Thursday) commenced administrative
proceedings for industrial action ballots at the mothballed Corus
plant on Teesside.
The National Steel Trade Union Co-ordinating Committee has
issued the following statement: "Due to a lack of progress and a
lack of clarity over securing an alternative for Teesside we have
begun ballot proceedings today. In view of recent legal actions
against unions we are making legal and administrative preparations
before the ballot opens.
"We were due to meet Corus today, but the company failed to turn
up at the appointed time. This is symptomatic of the way Corus has
treated the workforce in the past months.
"It is correct that this industrial action threat has been
hovering for some time but it is our view that we cannot hold off
any longer. We have held off to give Corus the opportunity to
deal with this issue with honesty and transparency but sadly this
has not happened.”
The ballot will commence on Teesside but other industrial
relations issues may mean this could spread to other Corus plants
in the near future.
Terry Pye, Unite national officer, said: "This is a road we
didn't want to go down but Corus' contempt for the Teesside
workforce and the community gives us no alternative."
Michael J Leahy, general secretary of Community, said: "We
always believe in the force of argument rather than the argument of
force but Corus hasn't listened so we are reluctantly taking this
action."
Keith Hazlewood, GMB national secretary, said: "We are very
disappointed that Corus has not been sufficiently open and
transparent on this issue and so we are proceeding to ballot."
Paul Reuter, Unite national officer, said: "Regretfully, this is
the only option left open to us as the business has closed all
other doors."
ENDS
For further information, please contact Pauline Doyle on 07976
832 861
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