The Sunday Sun reported that pressure is mounting on a steel business to commit to Teesside after it showed its multi million pound hand. Corus is investing GBP 185 million at the Port Talbot plant in South Wales, improving its safety, environmental performance and increasing its capacity by up to 400,000 tonnes.

Thousands of families in Tees Valley are still desperately waiting to see if their loved ones will have a job in the steel industry.

Union chiefs said that the investment in Port Talbot was unfair and undermining the development in Teesside.

Mr Michael Leahy general secretary of the Community union said that "While Port Talbot’s future as a centre of steel making excellence appears secure, the delay in concluding a deal that would see the resumption of steelmaking on Teesside continues to undermine the foundations of the industry. Community again calls for Corus to progress a deal with Thai steelmaker SSI."

Mr Coun George Dunning, an ex steel worker and the leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said that the recent announcement to invest in Port Talbot would hopefully encourage SSI to make a deal with Teesside. He added that "I think we have to be thankful as Port Talbot has had big knocks on their steel. We wish them all the luck in the world in the hope that the upturn in steel generates into Teesside to help seal the deal in steel making. We should be hopeful as the investment will mean we will get an investment up here, which means both South Wales and Teesside will be happy."

Mr Geoff Waterfield chair of the Teesside multi union workers' committee said that "The announcement of the investment makes us happy that the company is looking with vision as to what we can possibly do. But the frustrating thing for Teesside is that the business isn’t making more efforts to communicate with the people about their discussions with SSI. Investment in plant equipment is as vital to Port Talbot as it is to Teesside. However, we are fairly confident that Corus are doing all they can to come to a solution as soon as possible."

(Sourced from www.sundaysun.co.uk)