Union boss warns of 海角视频 vulnerability without vital steel process as jobs hope explored

Scunthorpe鈥檚 leading union figure has described the 鈥渄evastating鈥� moment steel workers were told 260 jobs are at risk, and warned of the dangers for the 海角视频 of closing the coke ovens.

Paul McBean chairs the multi-union committee at British Steel and was on site from 5.30am as briefings began.

He believes government intervention is vital to keep a strategic industry operational and, crucially, self-sufficient - pointing to conflict potential to kill off production and prohibit vital manufacturing in the 海角视频.

鈥淚t is devastating news, it is attacking our processes,鈥� Mr McBean said. 鈥淚f we close the coke ovens we are reliant on importing from different countries around the world, who at any moment could stop, which would stop our production.

鈥淭he government should step up and give us a strategy, lay out what they want from a steel industry. If we got into a conflict with another country, if all of a sudden they cut off supply, we cannot make steel, and we cannot make tanks, planes, ships or bullets. Everything takes steel and we cannot produce it without coke.鈥�

It comes with the global geo-political situation front of mind as a year of Russian aggression against Ukraine is marked this week. There are also environmental concerns when it comes to offshoring emissions generated from a heavy industry process.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want a lump sum, we want help with energy prices and carbon prices, a long term strategy for steel investment in this country. We鈥檝e had mills reduced and numbers reduced, but to take out one of the processes of steelmaking leaves us reliant on supplies from other countries. The carbon footprint may go down in this country, but it will go up elsewhere.

A panoramic view of British Steel's Scunthorpe works. (Image: Danny Lawson / PA)

But it is the 260 colleagues he is most concerned about, with 330 staff involved in rolling sessions from well before dawn. Consultations start tomorrow.

鈥淭hey had picked up on rumours, but to be told was devastating,鈥� Mr McBean said. 鈥淭he rest of the workforce are doing astronomical hours in overtime so we think these jobs could go round the works, which we鈥檒l get into.

鈥淲e will use everything in our armoury to make sure that does happen. First we want to see justification for the closure of the coke ovens, once we get that, then the people are our main concern, and we go from there.鈥�

Groups of 20 to 30 were addressed to ensure production continued. Work that could be lost sees coal exposed to high temperatures in a sealed environment to turn to coke, before being added to iron ore in the blast furnaces - with two of the four on site operational - to make iron ahead of the world-leading steel producing work across the integrated site.

The "irreversible" nature of the proposal has been flagged by Chris McDonald, chief executive of the Materials Processing Institute. He sits at the helm of the 海角视频鈥檚 national innovation centre for the sector and warned of wider implications. He said: "The closure of the Scunthorpe coking ovens is irreversible and will impact the national economy, as it produces such products as rails, beams and wire rod that are vital in supporting 海角视频 infrastructure and manufacturing.

"This announcement underlines the urgent need for investment in new green steel technology, a process already well advanced in countries across Europe, the United States, and Canada. The 海角视频 is in real danger of being left behind in the race to establish a modern, competitive low-emission steel sector as high energy costs are making our own steel industry unsustainable, which makes it less attractive to invest in green steel.

"If the 海角视频 fails to act quickly and decisively, then it risks being the only modern, industrial economy without a steel sector and totally reliant on imports.

"Closing these coking ovens is a permanent act. Once allowed to cool down, they cannot be restarted, and must instead be rebuilt. They primarily feed the blast furnaces, but also provide gases and fuel for downstream operations, such as rolling mills - meaning this decision will have widespread implications for British Steel and beyond.

"Although I expect British Steel will import coke to keep its operations running, this closure may well be the thin end of the wedge, opening the door to much greater imports of steel in the future."

British Steel chief executive Xifeng Han's full statement on proposed job losses and coke ovens closure:

鈥淪teel is vital to modern economies and with demand expected to grow over the coming decades, British Steel has a crucial role to play in ensuring the 海角视频 has its own supply of high-quality steel. To make sure we can deliver the steel Britain requires, we鈥檙e undergoing the biggest transformation in our 130-year history.

鈥淭o support the journey to net zero, our owners, Jingye, have invested 拢330 million in capital projects during their first 3 years of ownership and they continue to invest unprecedented sums of money in British Steel. Jingye is committed to our long-term future but decarbonisation is a major challenge for our business and, like most companies, we鈥檙e facing significant challenges because of the economic slowdown, rising inflation and exceptionally high energy prices. For example, last year our energy bill rose by 拢120 million while we鈥檝e also faced an increase of over 拢70 million in our annual carbon costs.

鈥淲e have taken action to reduce costs within our control; however, steelmaking in the 海角视频 remains uncompetitive when compared to other international steelmakers. Our energy costs, carbon costs and labour costs are some of the highest across the world, which are factors that we cannot influence directly.

"For the reasons outlined, we entered into talks with the 海角视频 Government in summer 2022 and are extremely grateful for its support. It鈥檚 important we have the correct policies and frameworks in place to back our drive to become a clean, green and successful company and we鈥檙e continuing to discuss this with the government. We are committed to working together and to making the home-made steel Britain needs for generations to come.

鈥淭o build a secure future for British Steel, and protect skilled and well-paid careers for thousands of employees and many more in our supply chain, we are 鈥� like many other businesses 鈥� proposing to streamline our business. We鈥檙e disappointed at having to make such proposals but are confident they will support a successful transformation.

鈥淭he trade unions are aware of our proposal to close the coke ovens and we look forward to working closely with them to ensure a long-term safe and sustainable future for the company, thousands of employees and many more people in our supply chain. We also continue to look at other potential cost-saving measures across the business and will announce any further proposed changes in due course.

鈥淲e appreciate this may be an unsettling period for our people and we will give them our full support. We haven鈥檛 set any deadlines but aim to keep the period of uncertainty for our colleagues as short as we can. We鈥檒l ensure this process is handled in a sensitive manner.

鈥淓mbracing new technology and ways of working will help our drive to reduce emissions and support clean growth, and we are already taking steps to improve our environmental performance. For example, we have increased the amount of scrap used in the integrated steelmaking route. In addition, we鈥檝e started a project to add ore-based metallics to the blast furnace to displace iron ore and we manufacture a range of products with significant environmental benefits including high-strength structural steel and Zinoco rail.鈥�