Indian conglomerate Tatas-owned steel maker Corus will be slashing 2,000 more jobs in the UK, says a media report.
"Steel maker Corus is cutting 2,000 more jobs at UK plants including Teesside, Scunthorpe and Rotherham," the BBC said in a report published on its website today.
The report noted that about 500 white-collar jobs would go at Scunthorpe, while more than 400 jobs are thought to be at risk on Teesside and 800 in Rotherham.
Even though the company is yet to announce the job losses, the BBC said Labour MP Elliott Morley confirmed the news.
Quoting Morley, the report said he was "disappointed" at the level of cuts and that he had told the firm that job cuts should be a last resort.
"The priority is to see if all the job losses are necessary and whether they can be voluntary rather then compulsory," he was quoted as saying.
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According to the BBC, in January, the firm announced a series of cost-cutting measures, which including mothballing a steel mill in South Wales as well as 3,500 job cuts worldwide, including the 2,500 in the UK.
One of the British trade union -- Community Union -- in a statement today said the move to cut jobs at Corus plants as "devastating" and called for government intervention.
"It's devastating news for our members and their families in steel communities right across the UK. This is bad news on top of bad news – this brings the Corus job cuts for the year to around 4,500 and that's without the threat to thousands of workers on Teesside and potentially more job cuts in the pipeline for Corus Strip UK," Community Union's General Secretary Michael J Leahy said.
Leahy noted that the union has real concerns for the integrity of the British steel industry and even fear that its further erosion could fundamentally undermine UK manufacturing.
"The government must also take action before it's too late. Community Union will be doing all it can in the coming days and weeks to minimise the job losses, oppose hard redundancies and fight for the future of British steel making," Leahy said.