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Tata Steel Announces Job Cuts in UK

Tata Steel Announces Job Cuts in UK
Tata Steel Announces Job Cuts in UK

Tata Steel has announced nearly 1,200 job losses at its plants in Scunthorpe and Lanarkshire, BBC reported.

Nine hundred jobs will be lost at the firm's plant in Scunthorpe. The remaining 270 jobs will go in Scotland.

They are the latest in a series of job losses across the UK steel sector, following news that administrators have been appointed to parts of Caparo Industries' steel operations.

The industry blames cheap Chinese imports for a collapse in steel prices.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will raise the issue with China's president during his UK state visit.

The jobs going at Tata Steel are in part of a division that the company failed to sell earlier this year.

Buffeted by collapsing prices and the strong pound, Indian-owned Tata has decided to cut back its UK operations.

Tata's steel plant in Scunthorpe, which employs 4,000 people, is one of the largest in the UK.

But two mills in Lanarkshire are also affected raising concerns about the future of the industry in Scotland.

  Shipbuilding History

The plants under threat are the Dalzell plate rolling works in Motherwell, which opened in 1872, and Clydebridge, in Cambuslang, which has been operating since 1887.

[The prime minister] needs to tell the Chinese premier what action he's going to take to stop Chinese steel damaging the future of a vital foundation industry in the UK Roy Rickhuss, General secretary of Community

The plants became two of the giants of Scottish industry, with Clydebridge providing steel plates which were formed into many of the most famous ships built on the River Clyde.

The industry was at the heart of many Lanarkshire communities and Motherwell Football Club still use the nickname "the Steelmen" in tribute to the workers who supported them.

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