South Wales Evening Post reported that steel making once provided work for 22,000 people in Port Talbot and helped to build the town.
Today, only a fraction of that figure is directly employed in the industry, and troubles in the global economy have started to hit home steel giant TATA is in the process of rebuilding one of its two blast furnaces at the site and recently warned it may delay firing it up unless demand for its products improves.
But the project represents a GBP 185 million investment in the steelworks at Port Talbot, and a further 15 to 20 years of steel making capacity and veteran steelworker Mr Laurance Howe said there is a sense of confidence among the 3,500 staff thanks to TATA's cash injection.
The 62 year old joined the steelworks as an apprentice at the age of 16 and said that "We recognize that the industry that we work in is a cyclical industry. We've had the good and the bad. What we have been very good at doing is managing our way through that and recognizing that it isn't always going to be a perfect world. We have managed to do that."
Mr Howe is one of several members of staff currently working on rebuilding the blast furnace who are following in the footsteps of family members by working at the plant.
His father, Mr Leonard, was an electrician's mate working on the blast furnaces, while Mr Howe's colleague Peter Bamsey works in safety at the plant which also provided work for his mother and father, grandfather and great-grandfathers over the years.
Mr Bamsey, who's two sons Mr Ian and Mr Scott, also work at TATA, said that "When my eldest son came to work here he started at the age of 19 and my wife's words to me were he's not going to work in there, it's not safe. This place is a hazardous place but it can be safe as long as we stick to our principles of safety. Since I have gone into the safety department I have spoken to my sons at home and my wife knows the work we do regarding safety here and she feels a lot more comfortable with the emphasis that we, as a company, have put on safety."
Lead civil structural engineer Mr Leighton Davies has worked in the steel industry for 43 years and been involved with several blast furnace rebuild and relining projects at the plant in Port Talbot.
He said that "The selling of steel is not in a healthy state across the world because of the depressed markets but Port Talbot, when we come out of this, will be in a healthy state. The project to rebuild the blast furnace is rebuilding for the future. It will buy us a lot more years and allows us to do further enhancements to make it one of the best in Europe."
Swansea University graduate engineer Mr Nicky Hamlyn, who works in the gas cleaning plant, said he had confidence in the future of the plant. He said that "TATA's investment in the Port Talbot plant gives me enormous confidence going forward that there's a future for people like myself and for existing employees."
A total of 77 contracting firms employing around 600 people are also key to the blast furnace project. Contractor Rowecord is using the same craftsmen on rebuilding the blast furnace as it did on building the Aquatic centre for the London Olympics.
TATA Steel spokesman Mr Robert Dangerfield confirmed the decline in staff numbers from 22,000 in the late 1960s to the current total of around 3,500 but said 700 staff were taken on from 2004 to 2009 and the company intends to continue its annual apprentice intake.
Earlier this month, TATA's global fortunes took a nose dive as first quarter profits after tax fell from GBP 612 million in 2011 to GBP 68.1 million this year.
Source - South Wales Evening Post
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