Thamesteel

I support my hon. Friend's comments and will return to them, as she makes an important point. It is all about how we define industrial activism and whether we have an industrially active policy, where Ministers are willing to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. On 17 February 2012, the Community union Sheerness works branch met and voted to lobby Parliament. On 21 February 2012, the all-party group on the steel and metal-related industry, which I chair, met and heard representations from two Thamesteel workers, Pat Wiggins and Tom Butler. On 22 February 2012, the second meeting of the Kent county council taskforce took place. On 24 February 2012, the redundancy payments office received a third tranche of RP1 forms. From 27 February 2012, 240 RP1 submissions were paid to Thamesteel workers during in a week. On 8 March 2012, Community union Thamesteel workers held a lobby of Parliament. On 13 March 2012, Michael Leahy, the general secretary of the Community union, wrote a further letter to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, asking for assistance and a meeting with workers. On 16 March 2012, the deadline that Mazars had proposed as a cut-off date for bidders was passed. On 21 March 2012—today—a Westminster Hall debate to raise the concerns of the Thamesteel workers is being held. On 28 March 2012, creditors of Thamesteel will meet at Priestfield stadium in Gillingham. Throughout this time, it is safe to say that the presence of the Government has been fairly non-existent and those of us who are here today, and the workforce, would like to know why. Why has the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills ignored requests to meet the democratically elected representatives of the workplace that is affected? Why have the Government so far waited for an invisible hand, instead of lending their helping hand? Why has the Secretary of State ignored a trade union that he knows can deliver results in saving steel works, as was seen at Redcar's Teesside Cast Products? If the Secretary of State or the Minister agreed to meet the union, they could have heard directly from men such as Ian Crosby, Paul Davies, Michael John Terry, Aby Abraham, Gary Lewis and Barry Coulthard, who are all workers at Thamesteel who have written down accounts of their plight. Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to read out all their accounts, but if you will indulge me, Mr Davies, I will read out two of them. Ian Crosby writes:"““I am a 29-year-old man that has worked for Thamesteel for the last six years. I applied for the job when my then fiancée fell pregnant with our first child. The salary at Thamesteel was quite a jump from the job I had previously been in, as well-paid jobs to enable supporting a family are few and far between on the island. We are now married and have three sons, aged five, three and five months old. My wife is currently on maternity leave from her part-time job, so it is now more crucial than ever that I can support my family. When the steel mill went into administration in January, it was absolutely devastating for my family. The fact that we were also not paid for our last month of service was awful for us. I literally had £6 left in my bank on the 25th of January. As you can imagine, with three young children and a house to maintain it is very rare to ever have any money left at the end of the paid month, but with it being the month after Christmas we were even more desperate for payday to come. My wife and I were questioning how we were going to afford nappies or milk for our youngest children, which is something that you should never have to question. My wife was very down about the whole situation and after just having a new baby it hit her even harder. It took almost four weeks before any money was made available to our family. As I had been in employment since I was 16, I am only entitled to contributions-based jobseekers allowance for the time being. This means my children are not entitled to school meals or milk tokens and I am not entitled to free prescriptions, dental care, etc. I find this unbelievable as I have never claimed benefits before and paid my taxes for over a decade, yet it appears you get penalised for that. I have been applying for every job I can, and my wife has had to return to her part-time job months before her maternity leave was due to end. This is really affecting her as she is missing out on those crucial months with her new son that she was able to have with the other two. She is questioning herself and her parental qualities, but she really has no choice. There are no available jobs on the island and I have been unsuccessful with every application I have made. I loved my job, and am finding it very hard to try and imagine what I am going to do now. The island has lost its main employer for men, and this is affecting many other areas of business. My only hope now is that a buyer is found to start producing steel in Sheerness once more. I think if this does not happen, then the situation will hit me a lot harder as I am still clinging on to that hope.””" Similarly, Gary Lewis writes:"““First of all, a thank you to all who are doing what they can to try and salvage what was Thamesteel. My story... I was lucky enough to secure a position there in the autumn of 2006, lucky in ""that with a well-paid job, my now wife and I could plan our family together. Jen, my wife, has two children from her previous marriage and we also wanted our own. Jen was able to give up work and over the next few years we had two beautiful children, coincidentally both born on 25th June, in the same delivery room at Medway hospital, but three years apart. As people always do, we lived to our means, and managed to stay credit-free. We were able to meet all our outgoings and not build up any arrears. We were never well off, but we were not broke. The occasional night out was still possible, as was the odd short holiday. We live in a modest three-bed semi in Queenborough, and feel we are part of the local community. My stepdaughter, who lives with us, was tutored at the Isle of Sheppey academy, our daughter Ruby attends Queenborough First School, as will Peter when he is old enough. My wife and I were married locally in January 2009 at the local Methodist church, where my wife's uncle is a Methodist minister. He… travelled to conduct our ceremony. In the last six months, it's been clear to all that something was going very wrong at Thamesteel. Bar mill production ceased in August last year, and melt shop production was sporadic to say the least. The message from the senior management was always positive, right up until 23rd January 2012, when it first became apparent that we might not get our pay in two days' time. With the best will in the world, nobody could ever plan for that. In the build-up to Christmas, all we got was positive vibes, and spent up for Christmas as you always do. Everyone wants the best for their kids, so let them have it, our 'jobs are safe'. For the very first time in my life, I found myself on the phone to claim jobseeker's allowance on 26th January 2012. I spent three whole days on the phone explaining to all my creditors—mortgage, energy, etc.—what was happening. The world was falling in and I couldn't think straight. I tried to be strong for my family, and did the best I could, but the pressure was—and still is—immense. It's made a hell of a difference to my life. I've applied for loads of jobs in my field of knowledge, in all parts of Kent. So far, I've had two replies, both of which have been negative. My JSA is now being paid, £210 a fortnight to cover all my bills. I've applied for help with the mortgage, but that only starts after 13 weeks. I've made an arrangement to pay reduced amounts for gas and water, and have applied to the Energy Trust for help with arrears on my electric bill. I still have to insure my property, keep a car on the road, and put food on the table. And it's all getting harder by the day. We have been lucky, in that the freezer was full when all this happened. We've been lucky enough to collect three food parcels from the Seashells centre in Sheerness, a scheme set up to help the steelworkers. I can't thank those involved enough, as these have been a godsend. It's a shame that I can only claim one more, but we'll have to make do. So what now with the works? Everyone waits with bated breath to see what offers have been made. Even if the mill starts up again, there's no guarantee we'll get our old jobs back. And there's no other viable employer on the island. Nothing. Not for a skilled man with a family to support. Sheerness needs this steel mill, and why aren't the government helping? Peacocks retail have been helped. Why not us? If there's a continuation of no investment, either by the government or by the private sector, then Sheerness will be dead in its tracks. A town needs a large employer to survive. 350 of my mates are in the same boat. Then there's the supply chain. I dread to think how many of us there are. Just a thought, has anyone been to Corby recently? I can't see us staying unless there's a major change. All joking aside, we're considering properties in Slovakia, northern Germany and northern Scotland. Please help us. Gary & Jen Lewis, Sammie, Ruby, and Peter, three chickens, two hamsters and a rabbit.””" During the mothballing of Teesside Cast Products, amid much criticism from the Tories and Liberal Democrats, the previous Government did get involved. Alongside One North East, Ministers were active in brokering potential deals with many potential buyers in the summer of 2009: Marcegaglia; Dongkuk Steel; and obviously SSI. We knew but we could not publicly say that SSI wanted to buy TCP at that time. The previous Government gave £60 million in aid for retraining, specifically for the Teesside area, including for workers at risk in Dow Chemical. That money has since been cut by a third. However, the overarching point is that the previous Government were involved directly. They rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty in lobbying and negotiating. I know that to be the case, as I was there in the area and living through the process every day for more than two years. The departure of Kirby Adams paved the way for a sale. It was not a lack of Government intervention that was to blame; there was a deliberate policy by Mr Adams to undermine a Save Our Steel campaign on Teesside. Thankfully, we won, and I wonder whether the Prime Minister would be bold enough to consider Mr Adams such a close political ally now. I say this again: this debate is timely. How could TCP's future be saved and Thamesteel be allowed to founder? Why were unions embraced as an integral part of the former's success, yet ignored, leading to negative outcomes, in the case of the latter? Saying that European markets are in the doldrums is not good enough, because both TCP and Thamesteel have a history of selling to non-European Union markets—Asia in TCP's case, and the middle east Gulf states in Thamesteel's. This debate is timely because of the imminent relighting of the now SSI-owned Teesside Cast Products blast furnace. I was part of the Save Our Steel campaign on Teesside, which was supported by our local community, trade unions, the media and the men and women of Thamesteel. I have a few suggestions for the Minister. Could we use the regional growth fund to attract any potential buyers that he might be aware of to the site? Could we talk to HMRC about holding off a little longer, to allow other buyers to come forward? Can we please at least have the Secretary of State directly involved, meeting with the work force, who are desperate to talk to him? I will close with the words of the late Geoff Waterfield, the Community union chair of Teesside's multi-union committee, who led the campaign locally. Sadly, he died at the age of 43 in August 2011 from undiagnosed leukaemia. He said:"““When I see a blast furnace, I see a thing of beauty... I see something that has given thousands and thousands of people a way of life, a good, honest wage, the ability to pay their mortgages, go on holidays and bring up their families. That to me is fabulous, that is a beautiful thing. When you come to Middlesbrough and see that skyline... That blast furnace is the heart of Teesside. As long as it pumps, there is life in Teesside.””" That is not just a Teessider's fairy tale; the men and women from Kent have the same view of their steelworks. It is a story for all steelworkers in Britain. There is a way to save the site, and UK steel, if the Government do something to facilitate the process and lend their support. So the question for the Minister is: ““What are you going to do?””