South Yorkshire steelworkers to march on Brussels
South Yorkshire steelworkers will join thousands from across Europe in a march to safeguard the future of the industry today
South Yorkshire steelworkers campaigning to keep the industry alive will take their fight to Brussels later.
They're joining thousands of workers from across the continent in a rally outside the European Parliament calling for more measures to protect jobs and put an end to the dumping of cheap steel imports.
It comes as the sale of the TATA plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge plants continues after the company announced it's selling its entire UK operation.
Ian Kemp's the GMB rep for both sites - he says the loss of the steel industry in South Yorkshire would be devastating:
"For every job joss there'll probably be 5 more jobs gone for people who service the industry, the suppliers and also the local shops. It's the lack of news that's actually making it even worse - whatever the news is, whether it's good or bad, if people knew they could make plans for the future. You just can't plan if you just don't know.
"I hope the politicians actually listen to us. It's not just this country, but it's the rest of Europe that's suffering. We need to stop the importing of Chinese steel - we need a level playing field, we need a proper energy policy that benefits all, not just the shareholders of the power companies."
Today marks the second time steelworkers have taken their campaign to the European Parliament.
Clive Royston's the Community Rep at TATA's plant in Stocksbridge:
"We just want a chance to prove what we can do. If they cut the energy prices back, stop all this cheap dumping, we know we can do it. We've got the finest steel companies in the world - why take it away from us because of cheap energy?
"We just don't know we keep getting told it's at the legal stage - they cannot inform us anything that's going off. Our managers at local leve, I don't think there's much they can tell us because it's all happening in Mumbai."