Steel company Liberty announce plans to cut hundreds of jobs
A steel company with a site in Newport has announced plans to cut 355 jobs in response to "challenging" market conditions.
Liberty Steel Group said it will now consult with unions over a proposal to cut 72 jobs in Newport and around 280 jobs at its plant in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire.
The company employs around 200 people at the Newport site and owner, Sanjeev Gupta, said he is "committed to keeping it open".
The company said the move followed a review of its UK business, leading to a decision to reduce its workforce at certain plants to a "sustainable size".
Workers were briefed on the decision on Thursday morning. Those who do not wish to take voluntary redundancy will be found work elsewhere through 'Liberty Workforce Solutions'.
Liberty took over the former Caparo Steel Products site in 2015 and reopened in 2016.
It reopened in 2016 with £600,000 of business finance from the Welsh Government.
At the time, the company said it would employ 70 workers, with "many more jobs" created in the supply chain.
The company makes Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) for the domestic and export markets for the construction and automotive industries.
Cornelius Louwrens, the company's chief executive, said the "difficult decision" was made due to "challenging conditions" facing the steel industry in the UK.
He said, "There is a need to reduce the workforce at a handful of locations, in order to make them sustainable for the long-term.
"It has always been our intention, and always will be, to avoid compulsory redundancies."
The firm will offer voluntary redundancy to workers at the affected sites, and has set up a new company, GFG Workforce Solutions, to enable employees hit by the cutback, to remain within the GFG Alliance, a group of companies which includes Liberty.
Ross Murdoch, national officer of the GMB union, said: "Once again we have more bad news for the UK steel industry. A country that doesn't produce its own steel for key infrastructure projects and shipbuilding is a county that's destined to fail.
"Our steelworkers deserve better than this. The Government urgently needs to intervene and ensure steel companies in the UK receive the backing they have long called for on energy costs and business rates.
"GMB will of course engage with the company to mitigate any losses for our members and will continue to campaign with our sister steel trade unions to bring about the support and investment required."
Roy Rickhuss, General Secretary of the steelworkers’ union Community, said: “We will be sitting down with Liberty Steel to look at their plans in detail and examine the rationale behind these proposals.
"In the meantime, we recognise that the company has indicated its intention to achieve any reductions through voluntary redundancy – we will be holding them to that commitment.”