Steelmaker Liberty Steel Group, part of the green steel business empire of Sanjeev Gupta, has announced plans to shed 355 jobs in the 海角视频 in the face of tough trading conditions.
The business said the affected jobs were at its steel plants in Newport, South Wales and at Stockbridge in Yorkshire.
Liberty said it will now consult with unions over a proposal to cut around 280 jobs at Stocksbridge and around 70 in Newport.
Liberty Steel said the move followed a review of its 海角视频 business, leading to a decision to reduce its workforce at certain plants to match sustainable production forecasts.
It comes over concerns over the future of Tata's primary steel plant at Port Talbot, which employs 4,000. Tata recently announced 3,000 job losses across its 海角视频 and Dutch operations.
Cornelius Louwrens, the company's chief executive, said: "Liberty has taken enormous strides in improving the performance of the steel mills it has acquired over the last six years. We've re-started mothballed plants and demonstrated a commitment to invest in the 海角视频.
"Unfortunately, the steel industry in the 海角视频 is facing challenging conditions and we have made the difficult decision that there is a need to reduce the workforce at a handful of locations, in order to make them sustainable for the long-term.
"It has always been our intention, and always will be, to avoid compulsory redundancies."
The firm will offer voluntary redundancy to workers at the affected sites, and has set up a new company, GFG Workforce Solutions, to enable employees hit by the cutback, to remain within the GFG Alliance, a group of companies which includes Liberty.
General secretary of the steelworkers' union Community, Roy Rickhuss, said: "News of more聽steel聽industry job cuts is concerning and this will be a worrying time for many steelworkers and their families in South Yorkshire and South Wales.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 announcement shows yet again that challenges remain for the 海角视频鈥檚聽steel聽industry and that is why we reiterate our call on government to meet with unions and employers in the industry to discuss action on the outstanding issues which we have been campaigning on for some time, such as energy costs, business rates and procurement.
鈥淲e will be sitting down with聽Liberty聽Steel聽to look at their plans in detail and examine the rationale behind these proposals. In the meantime, we recognise that the company has indicated its intention to achieve any reductions through voluntary redundancy 鈥 we will be holding them to that commitment.鈥
