News: Rotherham responds to Corus announcement
Following the announcement that Corus plans to restructure their Rotherham steel operations, council leader, Cllr Roger Stone said: "This is devastating news for those people who’re losing their jobs. It’s a bad day for them, and a bad day for the local, regional and national economy. "We’ll throw our weight behind any measures to help the people and the company. The council operates a Rapid Response service in conjunction with Yorkshire Forward, our Chamber of Commerce, Jobcentre Plus and others, specifically for situations such as this. The team has been successful in the past in helping people find new jobs and training, and naturally we’ll be offering that service. "These are extremely skilled and committed workers, not just faceless victims of the global downturn, and they will be needed to help pull the UK out of recession. "It’s a blow to the borough’s – and the much wider – economy. But ours is much more diverse and sounder than when steel and coal were hit in the Eighties. "We’re also doing what we can to reduce the impact of the downturn. As part of that, we’ve already set up a credit-crunch recovery group. People need to believe that there is still hope for the future." Andrew Denniff, of Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce, believes the job cuts will have a "huge impact" on the town. "It's obviously very sad, it's very disappointing and it's something that, as a town, we're going to have to deal with. From our perspective at the chamber we won't want to shirk our responsibility. If Corus want to sit down and have discussions with us, whatever help we can provide we will." On the restructure, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Forward Tom Riordan said: "These plans appear to put 731 jobs at risk in South Yorkshire and 93 in Scunthorpe, which is hugely disappointing and will have a significant impact on the local economies of these areas. However, it is heartening to see that the company has recognised the value and expertise of the Yorkshire operations as part of their wider plans to make the business more competitive. "Considering the importance of the steel industry to our regional economy, our priority moving forward is to work with local partners, the company and the Government to ensure as much activity as possible is retained in the plants and that those affected receive the best possible level of service and support in finding new roles."
Rotherham
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