Evening Gazette reported that SSI bosses at the Redcar steel works say union protests have cost them 8,000 man hours in the crucial race towards a January 2012 restart.

Between 80 and 100 members of the Unite union, including electricians laborers and scaffolders, right, have been targeting Steel House as part of a national protest over changes in contracts.

A spokesman for SSI said that "On three mornings during the past week we have had large protest groups congregating at the entrances to the Teesside Works. This action, which we understand is unofficial, is apparently linked to disagreements which have nothing to do with SSI UK, and we can only assume that our site has been targeted because of its current public media profile."

He added that "There has already been some disruption to the work associated with the blast furnace project, and to date 8,000 man hours have been lost overall. If the protests are related to genuine areas of disagreement, we would urge the parties concerned to address these within their own procedural arrangements without causing further disruption at Teesside."

(Sourced from www.nebusiness.co.uk)