Expected as it was, yesterday’s announcement that Tata is to mothball its two Scottish steel plants still came as a considerable blow.
The firm’s bosses were clear about why they had taken the decision to pull out: saturation of the steel market by cheap imports from China, a strong pound, high electricity costs. In other words, the perfect storm.
They were equally clear about future prospects. Despite hopeful words from the Scottish Government, a buyer for the two sites is unlikely to be found; the chance of ever reopening these sites is remote to say the least.
The loss of 270 jobs – 225 at Dalzell in Motherwell, 45 at Clydebridge in Cambuslang - will undoubtedly hit the affected families and communities hard. But there is a deeper significance to this announcement, which effectively spells the end of steelmaking in Scotland. An industry that once employed more than 10,000 people in the central belt has been reduced to a handful of employees at one small site in Bellshill. Another of Scotland’s great manufacturing industries has finally had its life support switched off. Another era has ended.
As expected, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was quick to announce a taskforce to explore the future of the sites and support the workers. What else can she do? Governments need to look like they are doing something, anything, to ease the pain. But as politicians of every hue know only too well, ministers have limited power to stop localised collateral damage when the global economy flexes its muscles. Other than offering one-to-one support and retraining to those losing their jobs, it’s difficult to see what can be practicably done.
Did it really have to be this way? As is so often the case, it is worth looking to Germany, where one sees a different picture entirely. In the last few years, despite similar market challenges, steelmaking there has gone from strength to strength, bolstered by the strong construction and automotive industries. According to statistics, the industry employs more than 450,000 people in Germany, in more than 5,000 companies, keeping graduates and non-graduates alike in high-quality, high-paid jobs.
Why so successful? The reasons are myriad, but it boils down to this: Germany made a decision some time ago to continue to make things. To make good quality products and retain a skilled workforce. The world, it reasoned, would want to buy these products. Germany was proved right, of course, and its economy continues to out-perform its peers on every measure.
None of this helps those who have lost their jobs in Lanarkshire this week, just as none of it helped the Ravenscraig steel workers back in 1992, when the giant plant near Motherwell closed with the loss of 770 jobs directly and thousands more indirectly. Promises were made to the workers by the then Tory Government, and its Labour successors, that job opportunities would be found, that the surrounding area would be regenerated. Almost a quarter of a century later, many are still waiting for the job opportunities and the regeneration.
It is too late to take a leaf out of the German book. But if nothing else, ministers from Holyrood and Westminster alike must ensure they serve the Tata communities better. Insult must not be added to injury.
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