New campaign sees hundreds of ‘Steel Not For Sale’ signs go up in Sheffield streets

Campaigners and members of the steel community made their presence known at Pat Midgley Community Hub on Manor Oaks Road today to support Unite the Union’s event and send a clear message that the steel industry needs help for it to stay and thrive.

As part of a campaign, signs showing ‘Steel Not For Sale’ were placed in gardens on Whites Lane, Manor Oaks Road, Maltravers Terrace and Maltravers Road.

The group said it showed the strength of the community’s opposition to continued threats to UK steel.

Michael Agboh-Davison, an organiser, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the UK’s steel industry was “at a critical point” and the country’s capacity to produce its own steel is “at immediate risk” unless intervention.

He said the closure of steelworks in Port Talbot and Scunthorpe would have “a knock-on effect” across the country.

He said: “The steel sector in Sheffield would be affected, Rotherham and Stocksbridge.

“What we have done is come to communities that have connections with steel and talk to people, just to have the feel of what the community wants.”

Mr Agboh-Davison added people wanted more jobs because “steel jobs, historically, have been good, well-paid, stable work”.

“That is what people want for their kids,” he said.

He said Unite had produced an alternative plan for the steel industry – it is to offer an alternative to the government’s plan which is “managed decline”.

Mr Agboh-Davison said that multinational companies like Tata prioritise their global profits above the health of the UK steel industry.

He said: “So Unite produced with (the help of) academic and industry experts an alternative plan which would safeguard and expand the industry.”

He said they would keep the capacity to produce Virgin steel until “we’ve developed a greener alternative”.

“The market for green steel is expanding rapidly”, he said.

“It’s going to take government investment. We’ve calculated that (it would cost) £12billion in 12 years but steel is a critical industry, it’s critical for jobs in other industries – as well as it’s key for national security”, Mr Agboh-Davison added.

He said currently when a school, a bridge, etc is being built we’re only using 60 per cent of the steel produced in the UK.

He asked: “Why can’t we use 100 per cent of UK steel?”

The answer, he said, is the lack of industrial strategy from the government.

He said: “The point of today’s event is sending a message to politicians. We need the support of Sheffield MPs backing a key industry in their town.

“We need national politicians to react urgently to this emergency.”

He also called on Tata Steel not to make irreversible decisions before the next general election – he added they needed an incoming Labour government.

Mr Agboh-Davison said: “We need solid, manifesto commitments costed (from the Labour Party). At the moment, the Labour Party has committed £3bn to assist the transition to green steel.

“It’s welcomed, it’s certainly much better.”

When challenged about the £3bn being short of the £12bn required, he agreed “it’s still far short of what we’d need to radically transform the industry”.

“We don’t just want to see our steel industry sustained, we want to see it grow.”

Unite member and council chamber member, Cllr Minesh Parekh (Crookes, Labour) told the LDTS that steel was “in Sheffield’s heart of history and heart of future too”.

He said: “We know that any future net-zero future needs green steel – domestic steel.

“It’s ludicrous to see the government working to wind down the steel industry when the cost of importing steel environmentally is so much higher… when we have a skilled workforce that we should be supporting.”

Geoff Cox, Chair of the South Yorkshire Climate Alliance, added: “Economies all around the world need to decarbonise their steel industries and move production onto a sustainable basis.

“Unite the Union recognise this and want to be part of the discussion as to how we make it happen in the UK.

“This isn’t a case of ‘jobs versus climate’, we need both. We need an industrial strategy that delivers a just transition for the workforce, one that takes everyone’s interests into account.”

After job losses at Tata’s site in Port Talbot, South Wales, were confirmed, the Government said it was determined to secure a “sustainable and competitive” future for steel, adding there would be support for workers losing their jobs.