Tata Corus won't shut UK plant, to save 120 jobs

NEW DELHI: Tata Steel's European arm Corus has decided not to shut down one of the mills at its Teesside Cast Products (TCP) plant, saving as many as 120 jobs from getting slashed.

"Corus confirmed its intention to continue operating South Bank Coke Ovens (a TCP mill) following the improvement in market conditions for coke. As a result of this decision about 120 additional jobs will be retained," the company said in an emailed statement from London.

Corus had last year decided to partially shut down some of the mills of TCP in UK, threatening to cut 1,700 jobs.

The decision to continue operations of South Bank Coke Ovens was taken after a recent meeting of the Trade Union Task Force, formed to look into the issue of closure of the mills.

"With a view to securing a positive future for TCP, Corus agreed to consider a Trade Union proposal to extend TCP's operating programme and postpone the partial mothballing to the end of February," the statement added.

This extension of the operating period would not affect timescales associated with the ongoing HR process, the statement further said.

In May last year, a consortium of international buyers broke the 10-year offtake agreement with TCP, which forced Corus to consider mothballing its mills.

The move to partially mothball TCP mills had prompted the the UK Government to propose talks with the Tatas for reversing the decision.