zip106

I know a few of you on here work for them - hope your job's safe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24725339

DYK

Its not just TATA,a few steel places i know of are doing bad,45 job cuts a few weeks back,and now another 95 are going..Another place i know of are down to 15 staff.Some are even making work now for next September.Saying that the one was blamed on crap management for doing so badly,boys just out of college etc who ain't got a clue,but lick enough ***.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Not been good news from them here for some time.

They have apparently held crisis meetings with the workforce and told them that either they meet VERY strict targets by April 2014 or they will pull the rug...offload, or just close down.

Quite who thought selling our steel industry to a direct competitor was a good idea is beyond me......:mad;

^Qwerty^

Thought the scunny plant had just won a big contract with Network Rail -

http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk...ail/story.html

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

You'd think TATA would buy their own product as they own Jaguar!

Self licking lollypop.

Matteeboy

My degree (MatEng Swansea) was more or less "grooming" to work for British Steel (now Corus). Had an interview, was a cocky little know it all (nothing changes), got offered the job, thought f**k that as their idea of "commission" was my idea of "not worth having"

Veeery strange place too - to anyone who hasn't been, a working steelworks really is a unique place to visit.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Grooming, cocky.

neil-h

I'd imagine it's not too dissimilar to an operational powerstation.

Matteeboy

It's the area that they pour 300 tonnes of molten steel from a giant "cauldron" that's really odd - like something from Hell. Flames shooting out, the floor shakes. Really bizarre.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

But how can Tata be doing badly. Osborne and Cameron told us the recession is over and all is well wth the economy again

neil-h

Because steel manufacture is such a large part of the UK economy

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Sadly no, thanks to the last 30 years' governments we are now a service sector country and look how well that is going for us

Anyway I too hope no one here is losing theirjob at Tata!

sti-04!!

Anyone remember Ravenscraig ???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenscraig_steelworks
My area was devastated with it all those years ago.
Its now thankfully being regenerated as seen here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenscraig
Thatcher at her best

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

I had the meeting Jeff refers too last month. We (Scunthorpe site) have to break even or return a profit from a large deficit by the end of this financial year. That's currently (going on yesterday's further meeting regards 340 Scunthorpe job losses) about £43m to claw back.

Most areas on plant have issued 30% budget cuts to help get towards these savings, whilst come January a 3rd out of 4 blast furnace is to be reignited to ramp up production. The message (or should I say massage) from immediate managers is to try squeeze more out if a shift, ie work harder.

A big problem is the health & safety red tape, the pension slaves and number of lazy bas*ards that work there. The unions have a little too much power in negotiation from my point of view and this with the lazy workers is strangling the 'works too. Very little is said or done about the old 'British Steel mentality', which I was warned about when I started as an apprentice. I'm not perfect and people do have 'steady' days but some employees do take the proverbial day in, day out. You can't sack them for it as the unions go all high & mighty, and I'm member myself so see what goes on.

The thought is most the 340 lost will actually come from pen pushers, admin and contractors, but everything seems to be constant consultation rather than actual action.

Stuff like the below drivvle doesn't help either - some moron with too much time and hatred of the right'a ramblings...

http://visitscunthorpe.com/2013/10/3...d-bail-it-out/

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Far too many "double-dippers" on the works too.

They take redundancy, plus a big payment, then come back in another job and continue working.

Some are on a pension, had a redundancy payment and yet still working full-time at 70+.....meanwhile there are younger men who need the jobs, but can't get taken on.

The younger lads end up "carrying" them in the more manual tasks as they can't cut it any more.

Madness.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Having worked at both, no, nothing like.

Two areas using and pouring molten metal, two areas producing utter filth and dust you have to see to believe.
Areas in between that look like the back of the moon, pipework going everywhere, filth everywhere, noise, heat.....nothing like a power-station.

When they do a charge on the BOS steelmaking plant, the entire building shakes and the earth trembles.

Pouring still lights the skies at night...the town's mottoo on it's coat of arms is, "Refulget Labores Nostros Coelum"...."The Skies Reflect our Labours".

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Fortunately at CEW Jeff, most the guys there are physically capable to do most jobs. Obviously someone like me in their late 20's can do some jobs say a 50-55 year old craftsman can't, but generally you get their experience and the young braun. I have seen first hand at DLCO a manager who retired at 60 from APCO, took a big lump sum and pension, went to work through Sites Services at DLCO well into his 60's and was simply physically incapable of doing a great deal. He acted like he was a manager still, trying to boss others around whilst sucking the teet of the engineering team to stay on side.

That's all over the 'works. It's even worse when you have some union ****** who's an engineer or maintenance technician throwing the spanners in the works for whatever I'll gotten personal vendetta.

That's why we're inefficient. Back in the day British Steel had the good times where you had the above but also had more work, bigger profits etc., no reinvestment into the buildings. Now it's all coming down at the worst time economically too.

tony de wonderful

I didn't know we had a steel industry left. You can make steel in Indonesia for probably half the price. I can't see it surviving.

neil-h

Sounds like a hell of an experience. Having passed through the generator hall at Didcot A, the noise is quite something.

Matteeboy

Rather better described than my rubbish effort!

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

LOL, place leaves memories.
worked on the Ore Preparation Plant one summer as a student. One area had sand-fleas that came out of the dust and bit you. Left horrid red lumps that itched like fury.
You needed a dust hood over your hair, and even so, you also needed someone to REALLY scrub your back, neck and shoulders at least once a week, or you'd get awful spots.

I've also worked on the blast furnace floor, actually out there when they were tapping; coke ovens, while they were live, and the bloom and billet mill, where you couldn't stand within twenty feet of the red-hot ingots coming past towards the mills. The twenty-ton flying shears was something to see too.......

Fascinating place.

SPEN555

Scunthorpe site is like the Grangemouth issue. Average wages far too high. I bet the average is over £60k!

p.s. used to work for Tata and so heard stories of the pay levels.

Matteeboy

We just did a degree visit to Port Talbot. Saw the crazy BOS stuff and the red hot ingot "roll"; apparently someone fell on it once and literally vaporised.

g7prs

iTrader: (5)

The average wage for grangemouth was lower than those quoted in the papers.

( thankful to still have a job )

dpb

Tata, steel has an ominous ring to it.

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

I designed a hologram for them c. on or after 2001.

The End.

tony de wonderful

Ah Port Talbot, also known as the Welsh Paris, by people who have never been to Paris.

I've never been to a steel mill but I did visit an Aluminium Smelter once, just a huge building with rows and rows of 'pots' (like massive swimming pools full of aluminium) in various stages of the process. The amount of electricity consumed was staggering.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

The "black-hot" stuff is the worst...stories of people walking onto "black-hot" plates, their boot-soles melting, they skid and fall, and are literally cooked.

We used to fear the old slag ladles too: a train of those going past, and for no obvious reason, one of them would suddenly shoot about 10kg of molten slag fifteen feet into the air. You did not want to be under it when it came back to earth.
Nowadays the slag is in closed torpedoes and goes to a different part of the works where it's "foamed" for roads etc. Stinks of hydrogen sulphide when they do it.

P1Fanatic

I did my BSc Sandwich year at Port Talbot albeit in IT Support. Best bit was the steel works tour. If the work rate in my dept was anything to go by then its no wonder they are in this situation.

RA Dunk

Where do these cretins get their average wages from, according to the papers the average wage offshore is 80K, Ive never ever come close to that figure in the thirteen years Ive been out here. In fact being a contractor Im lucky to even have a job all year round and make half of the above figure.