SHOP stewards at Ravenscraig believe the closure decision may have
been hurried through so that British Steel can transfer expensive
steel-making equipment from Scotland to their plants in Wales.
Because of a downturn in orders, BS has been reviewing its investment
commitments. Instead of spending a further #140m on continuous casting
-- concast -- equipment at Llanwern, it may simply unbolt the concast
line at Ravenscraig and ship it south.
Ironically, Ravenscraig is likely to have a busy summer before the
gates are finally closed. BS's other major plant in Wales, at Port
Talbot, will have a sharp reduction in steelmaking this year because of
a major relining of its main blast furnace.
The Ravenscraig workers believe they have been starved of such
investment. Yesterday, as the news of the closure sank in, there was
little talk of the plant being saved.
In reality, the campaign to save Ravenscraig has been running since
the Gartcosh closure. Yesterday's decision is the end of that campaign,
not the start of a new one.
The workers believe they have done all they can by breaking
productivity targets, by producing high quality steel, and by producing
a well thought-out case for new investment. But no matter how much
support they gathered, they always ran up against the intransigence of
BS chairman Sir Bob Scholey.
''He appeared to have a personal animosity to Scotland,'' said shop
steward's convener Willie Twaddle yesterday.
Nor do the stewards hold out the hope of a Labour victory in the
General Election saving the plant. It has been starved of investment for
too long, the workers believe, and a separate Scottish steel industry
would need hundreds of millions of pounds spent on new finishing mills.
Mr Twaddle is clear who he believes is to blame for the closure -- the
Government and British Steel. BS for starving them of investment, the
Government for not giving Scotland some protection during the sell-off
of BS, when it was clear even then that Sir Bob Scholey wanted to close
Ravenscraig.
The reasons for Ravenscraig's closure are still unclear to the
workers. No decision by BS over the years has ever been justified or
explained, say the workers -- not to them, not to Government Ministers
and not to the Select Committee on Trade.
Despite their anger, the Ravenscraig workers will continue to produce
steel without strikes, work-ins or industrial sabotage. Part of it is
pride in their work. Mostly it is the realisation that they have to earn
as much as they can between now and September to cushion the effects of
being thrown on the dole queues.
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