New union plan for steel works

Steel unions GMB, Community and Unite have put forward a new plan to keep the blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, open while the site converts to greener technologies.

Delivered to British Steel in February, the plan offers an alternative to shutting down the two furnaces, which have been earmarked for closure since 2023, as the company works to switch to more energy-efficient electric arc furnaces.

Unions, who have been campaigning against the closure for over a year, claim that shutting down the blast furnaces could see up to 2,000 jobs lost in North Lincolnshire and argue in their plan that they could instead be kept open while the new technology and furnaces are developed.

According to reports, British Steel’s Chinese owners, Jingye Group, have warmed to the union proposals but say they need the government’s help to avoid expensive carbon offset costs for it to be feasible. GMB national officer Charlotte Brumpton-Childs said: “The multi-union plan means Scunthorpe having both blast furnaces open as the site transitions to low carbon steelmaking.”

She added: “For our plan to be viable, we need ministers to provide relief from these policy costs, just as other European countries have done.

“Thousands of jobs and primary steelmaking cannot be lost because carbon costs rule out British Steel pursuing a sensible and just transition to low carbon steelmaking.”