The end of steel making on Teesside?

[Junior]

It's a sad story, but an all too familiar one.

I started working in procurement for an engine manufacturer 17 years ago. At that time we bought Pistons from a company in Somerset, Piston rings from Sunderland, Head Gaskets from a company in Slough, 'wet' filters from South Wales, Waterpumps and a number of cast and machined parts from companies in the Midlands........almost all of these parts are now made in China, India and Eastern Europe. Those that are still here today manufacture , but a lot manufacture at their subsidiaries in said countries. Sad times.......hopefully it will come full circle.

 

[williamalex1]

It's a sad story, but an all too familiar one.

I started working in procurement for an engine manufacturer 17 years ago. At that time we bought Pistons from a company in Somerset, Piston rings from Sunderland, Head Gaskets from a company in Slough, 'wet' filters from South Wales, Waterpumps and a number of cast and machined parts from companies in the Midlands........almost all of these parts are now made in China, India and Eastern Europe. Those that are still here today manufacture , but a lot manufacture at their subsidiaries in said countries. Sad times.......hopefully it will come full circle.

Piston broke I'm afraid.

 

[Tashyboy]

James Wharton, MP for Stockton, says they've been working with SSI all through the summer. But Anna Sorbry, the business minister, says they were only called in to help last week, "way too late."

The Govt can break EU rules, get a special exemption, to bail out the banks but...

Hobbit dont get me started on that one. Am retired and need to chill.

Sod it.

Our beloved David Cameron sung to our thick as pigs**t press that it is not good value for the government to subsidise the mining industry to the tune of £75,000 per man. Lies lies and more lies. An application was sent to the EU to subsidise the industry til 2018, when the mines would close naturally. It would not of cost the tax payer a single pound or euro. The same application that half of Europe has had. Even then they could of stopped open if they were making a profit.

So what went wrong, the application which was sent to the Government before the election to be ratified was never forwarded to the EU. Tossers.

oh ah guess what, ave had me pension statement two weeks ago and the government has just had another 750 million quid out of the MPS (mine workers pension scheme). Don't it just gladden the heart.

Back to the steel workers, some of the poor sods will be lost souls, some will be glad to see the back of it.

The job centre plus people will tell you that you can only train to do a similar job to what you are doing now. Which will upset most coz there is no more steel works.
That is because it is government money ( come from me pension Scheme).
Another company will come in and say you can retrain to do anything because the money comes from Europe.

Been there three times with the closure of Rufford, Harworth and Thoresby Collierys and it was not a nice time in the Tash household.

gutted for them

 

[6inchcup]

Hobbit dont get me started on that one. Am retired and need to chill.

Sod it.

Our beloved David Cameron sung to our thick as pigs**t press that it is not good value for the government to subsidise the mining industry to the tune of £75,000 per man. Lies lies and more lies. An application was sent to the EU to subsidise the industry til 2018, when the mines would close naturally. It would not of cost the tax payer a single pound or euro. The same application that half of Europe has had. Even then they could of stopped open if they were making a profit.

So what went wrong, the application which was sent to the Government before the election to be ratified was never forwarded to the EU. Tossers.

oh ah guess what, ave had me pension statement two weeks ago and the government has just had another 750 million quid out of the MPS (mine workers pension scheme). Don't it just gladden the heart.

Back to the steel workers, some of the poor sods will be lost souls, some will be glad to see the back of it.

The job centre plus people will tell you that you can only train to do a similar job to what you are doing now. Which will upset most coz there is no more steel works.
That is because it is government money ( come from me pension Scheme).
Another company will come in and say you can retrain to do anything because the money comes from Europe.

Been there three times with the closure of Rufford, Harworth and Thoresby Collierys and it was not a nice time in the Tash household.

gutted for them

were you offered a lump sum of money and an offer to be retained in a new trade or skill when your pit closed.

 

[Tashyboy]

were you offered a lump sum of money and an offer to be retained in a new trade or skill when your pit closed.

When my last pit closed in July our redundancy was "state redundancy". In essence I had worked in coal mining 36 years in total. state redundancy pays a maximum of 20 years at I believe £475 per year. It gets a bit complicated because it is not a year for a year. It depends on how old you are, how many years you worked, when you finished etc etc. There is a government website with the table on it. In essence for 36 years it was rubbish. Compared to what most other miners got.

When Thatcher started closing the mines, the governments both Labour and Torys paid an enhanced redundancy package, so miners went "quietly". It equated to £900 for every year you worked plus in some cases a £10,000 lump sum. Instead of 36 yr X 900 =32,400 plus 10,000 ( which we were never gonna get) I made about a third of 32k. Plus 12 weeks wages.

Re being retained, kept within the industry/ company. Yes and no. I was asked to stay on for four extra weeks for medical cover to the lads who were helping to close the mine/ refill the shafts and then finished. Out of 600 men who were finished in the last year maybe 6 men tops will be retained, purely because of what they do is essential for the site.

Re being retrained, after 36 years of goin to work and saying " Yerd owt", ( have you heard anything),I was ready to finish. I have spoken to lads who have finished and they are loving life after the pit, some are struggling. All will have an extended life because they are not subjecting themselves to horrendous working conditions/ environment. Trouble is no one gives you a calendar saying you now have this much extra.

Retraining, yes it was offered and quite frankly grab it with both hands, the job centre should be kicking your door down to help you. IE, Apply for a class two Lorry drivers job and they pay for training. Go to the best in the area, do your homework. It is strange where jobs come from and how some of the lads got them. talking to a lad in the Coop Friday, he told me he is going out to Iran sometime soon methane boring, but in the meantime he has been working in a concrete factory for 3 months, got the job through the golf day I arranged in July. I was 10 ft high when he told me.

The ones who get bitter and twisted re what has happened to them will struggle to "move on". Some how you have to let it go and "crack on". I am not saying forget what has happened but it is a dog eat dog world out there.

hope this helps if you need owt more ask.

 

[6inchcup]

When my last pit closed in July our redundancy was "state redundancy". In essence I had worked in coal mining 36 years in total. state redundancy pays a maximum of 20 years at I believe £475 per year. It gets a bit complicated because it is not a year for a year. It depends on how old you are, how many years you worked, when you finished etc etc. There is a government website with the table on it. In essence for 36 years it was rubbish. Compared to what most other miners got.

When Thatcher started closing the mines, the governments both Labour and Torys paid an enhanced redundancy package, so miners went "quietly". It equated to £900 for every year you worked plus in some cases a £10,000 lump sum. Instead of 36 yr X 900 =32,400 plus 10,000 ( which we were never gonna get) I made about a third of 32k. Plus 12 weeks wages.

Re being retained, kept within the industry/ company. Yes and no. I was asked to stay on for four extra weeks for medical cover to the lads who were helping to close the mine/ refill the shafts and then finished. Out of 600 men who were finished in the last year maybe 6 men tops will be retained, purely because of what they do is essential for the site.

Re being retrained, after 36 years of goin to work and saying " Yerd owt", ( have you heard anything),I was ready to finish. I have spoken to lads who have finished and they are loving life after the pit, some are struggling. All will have an extended life because they are not subjecting themselves to horrendous working conditions/ environment. Trouble is no one gives you a calendar saying you now have this much extra.

Retraining, yes it was offered and quite frankly grab it with both hands, the job centre should be kicking your door down to help you. IE, Apply for a class two Lorry drivers job and they pay for training. Go to the best in the area, do your homework. It is strange where jobs come from and how some of the lads got them. talking to a lad in the Coop Friday, he told me he is going out to Iran sometime soon methane boring, but in the meantime he has been working in a concrete factory for 3 months, got the job through the golf day I arranged in July. I was 10 ft high when he told me.

The ones who get bitter and twisted re what has happened to them will struggle to "move on". Some how you have to let it go and "crack on". I am not saying forget what has happened but it is a dog eat dog world out there.

hope this helps if you need owt more ask.

i was asking because when the pits closed in ST HELENS everyone came out with thousands of pounds plus as you said a enhanced payment,all were offered training with new training centre built it closed down after 6 months due to lack of people wishing to retrain,they preferred to do nothing and claim sickness benefits as the government could write them of the figures,i personally have family members who have never done a legitimate days work since the pit closed,BUT still blame the conservatives for not having a job as you said some will expect someone else to do something for them,but when its time to move on move on and stop blaming everyone else.

 

[Tashyboy]

6 inch, unfortunately for as long as I can remember when it came to claiming benefits. If there was anything that you wanted to know about claiming you would buy the lads in the welfare say in the corner and they would "advise" you.

by and large when Thoresby closed the pit was 99% full of the best of the best Colliers, so there mentality when it came to working was excellent.

Still it didn't stop all them having a feeling of being shafted by the company and this government. Something the current crop of steelworkers will now be feeling.

 

[Hobbit]

Sadly, it goes from bad to worse.

The maint/mothballing team were sent home halfway through the shift yesterday. And it now transpires SSI have not been making payments into the pension fund. At least the govt paid last month's wage bill, SSI didn't, which came in at over £400k!!

If anyone wants cheap cars etc, the local newspapers are already seeing "reluctant sale due to redundancy..." ads.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Unfortunately steel making is an expensive business and is not attractive to other companies at the moment so it is unlikely that anyone will come in to take it on. Day to day running costs must be horrendous so the insolvency people will end up just winding it up and selling what they can. The concept that the ovens have to be kept running is a killer as that will eat money.

Very sad but ultimately it is a business and it has to be viable. The bigger issue is that Teeside is pretty run down in chunks and does not need the loss of well paid jobs.