British Steel's workers at Scunthorpe feel 'sick and petrified really'

Workers at British Steel’s Scunthorpe site expressed anger and frustration over the plant’s uncertain future on Tuesday as the future of the company hung in the balance.

As people filed out of the sprawling works after a shift change, an employee, who has been at the steelworks for 18 years, said: “I’m worried sick and absolutely petrified really. I’ve got three kids at home. We don’t know anything, we only know what we’re finding out off the news.”

The Scunthorpe site employs more than 3,000 of British Steel’s 5,000 strong workforce.

Martin Foster, 57, is the Unite trade union convenor for the Scunthorpe plant and has been employed by the steelworks for most of his life. He said: “I came in this morning and was genuinely scared and angry. It just feels like we’ve been thrown to the wolves.

“You’ve got to remember Scunthorpe as a town didn’t exist until this place was created. The town was built around the steelworks not the other way round.”

Scunthorpe’s iron and steel industry has been a cornerstone of the area since the mid-19th century. In 1967 the works were consolidated and nationalised as part of the British Steel Corporation, before it was privatised in 1988 and became part of Corus and later Tata Steel. Greybull Capital, a private investment firm which specialises in buying up struggling businesses, took over in 2016, renaming the firm British Steel.

Most residents fear that losing the factory will not just mean the loss of thousands of jobs, but will deal a serious blow to the entire town.

Celia Todd, 64, marched with the steelworkers in 2015 when the factory previously faced financial difficulty: “It upsets me because I’ve lived in Scunthorpe all my life and I’ve seen people going into the steelworks as young boys and come out as men. Some of them have been in there since they left school.

“It’s going to be like a ghost town if it closes.”

The factory is a huge complex circling the outskirts of the town centre and its towering chimneys can be seen for miles. Its presence is embedded into the lifeblood of the town – the central shopping arcade is named The Foundry in homage to it.

John Fleming, 75, owns a taxi firm in the town. He said: “If the steelworks close down, this town would die. It’s the main employer in this town. We’ve opened a brand new technical college – what are they going to do if there’s no jobs going?”

Workers have been reassured they’ll receive their wages this month, but with talks ongoing the people of Scunthorpe face yet more uncertainty about the future of their town.