Mick Grant

I attended a meeting of the national Alliance in Teeside today which was extremely positive with a lot to report back.  The group has decided to call itself The Industrial Committees Alliance from now on.  

As I blogged previously the group had arranged to meet Peter Mandelson and this meeting will now be brought forward in light of what has gone on at Corus this week. A meeting with Corus' HR department in London has also been set up, as has a meeting with Ian Lucas, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.   There was also a discussion around a short-time working subsidy for all industries, not just the steel industry, and a good debate on where we go next following the job losses at Corus.  There is a lot going on and everyone is united in taking things forward.

I have just got back from the meeting in Doncaster of The Alliance. Obviously yesterday's announcement by Corus dominated the meeting as I expected it would. We have managed to make a commitment to work together and many local communities in the Yorkshire and Humber region will now come together.  That can only be a good thing.

It was decided that a meeting would be requested by members of the group to meet with the HR department at Corus.  It was also announced that following a meeting between Rosie Winterton and Peter Mandelson around £5-million of government money would be available - you can read the full story HERE  I am pleased the government has come out and said it is committed to working to find a solution.

The Alliance had already organised to meet with Peter Mandelson to discuss the issues in the steel industry and now this meeting will be brought forward due to the seriousness of the situation.  I am not sure when this meeting will take but will update when I get more information.  Simply standing by and watching people lose their jobs is not an option.  We must do all we can to minimise any job losses and I will be talking to other groups and people in the coming days.

 Further details are emerging about the potential job losses at Corus. Sky have said 2,000 jobs could go across the country but I understand it's closer to 2,500. We are just awaiting a statement from Corus to clear up this confusion. I have emailed the acting chair of the National Alliance regarding today's news and I am awaiting a response. I think urgent action needs to be taken. 

I understand the unions have also suspended the planned balloting procedure in response to the proposed job losses. I'm not surprised they have taken this course of action. The timing of this announcement, coinciding with the ballot, is awful.