Unions fight back over Corus cutbacks
As reported yesterday, steel giant Corus is set to continue on a reduced capacity into the foreseeable future and will be looking to make cost savings across the board. The group has announced plans to close three blast furnaces on a temporary basis with two in the UK and one in the Netherlands. While Corus has not indicated any substantial job losses as yet the unions, representing 3000 workers in Port Talbot, are requesting urgent talks with the management.
The unions are suggesting that Corus should look to the long term rather than take a short-term knee-jerk reaction to the economic situation and cut capacity substantially. However, earlier this week we saw how bleak the situation was when Corus issued a forecast on demand over the next six months. Unions in many industries across the world will now have their hands full with more and more companies looking at cost savings as business levels continue to fall.
The unions claim that they have a guarantee of no redundancies before the end of December although they are now looking at assurances stretching into 2009. Whether Corus would be to give these assurances remains to be seen.
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