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| 'It's another kick in the teeth': Redcar steels itself for the worst | 'It's another kick in the teeth': Redcar steels itself for the worst |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| “I would like to see it bailed out,” said Paul Barclay, 57, head barber at Cox’s in the centre of Redcar on Teeside, thoughtful but extrovert in yellow. We are talking about the steelworks – the plant will be mothballed, announced its Thai owner, SSI, earlier this week. By Friday SSI had applied to wind up the business, after its bid for public money was knocked back by the government – which instead offered £80m to help 1,700 workers find new jobs. | |
| Related: Redcar steel plant goes into liquidation | Related: Redcar steel plant goes into liquidation |
| In Brighton, Jeremy Corbyn used his conference speech to call on David Cameron to do more to save the steel industry: the main talking point was whether to pronounce it Redcar or Redke. Sometimes you get the impression that the metropolitan elite does not really care about heavy industry, unless they are complaining that the North isn’t what it used to be. But what do I know? I’m part of it. | |
| Back to Paul: “It’s been so badly run. When they first bought it, they had a workforce there six months that didn’t strike a bat. They took everyone on too early. There’ll be a knock-on effect on other businesses. You don’t need a haircut when you haven’t got a job.” | Back to Paul: “It’s been so badly run. When they first bought it, they had a workforce there six months that didn’t strike a bat. They took everyone on too early. There’ll be a knock-on effect on other businesses. You don’t need a haircut when you haven’t got a job.” |
| A client across the room, Tony, 50, was made redundant from the plant 15 years ago, after he had been transferred from the blast furnace to the coil plate mill. “British steel is like a closed house,” he remembers. “Those skills don’t mean anything anywhere else.” | A client across the room, Tony, 50, was made redundant from the plant 15 years ago, after he had been transferred from the blast furnace to the coil plate mill. “British steel is like a closed house,” he remembers. “Those skills don’t mean anything anywhere else.” |
| “It’s another kick in the teeth for Teesside, with unemployment as high as it is,” said Rachael, 28, sweeping hair. Tony agreed – “I can’t see anything else coming in to the area” – then rallied. “I know there isn’t much to go for, but it’s not the end of the world.” When he was made redundant, he retrained as an HGV driver. It’s not villagey like factory work, but not everybody likes chatting. “To tell you the truth, I don’t miss [the steelworks] at all.” | |
| From a yawning sandy beach on a beautiful day, the works look poetic, a big, imposing structure made vulnerable by invisible forces that people guess at: modernity, globalisation, the conditions of the modern Chinese worker (the current financial difficulties are ascribed to Chinese steel dumping). | From a yawning sandy beach on a beautiful day, the works look poetic, a big, imposing structure made vulnerable by invisible forces that people guess at: modernity, globalisation, the conditions of the modern Chinese worker (the current financial difficulties are ascribed to Chinese steel dumping). |
| Redcar has none of the desperation you often sniff at the coast. It has more charity shops than you would want from a prosperous high street, and there are a number of outlets selling things in weird combinations (dresses and milkshakes; bikes and flapjacks), as if clawing for a USP. But it isn’t depressed: which, of course, is because until Tuesday, it had something for a skilled workforce to do. | Redcar has none of the desperation you often sniff at the coast. It has more charity shops than you would want from a prosperous high street, and there are a number of outlets selling things in weird combinations (dresses and milkshakes; bikes and flapjacks), as if clawing for a USP. But it isn’t depressed: which, of course, is because until Tuesday, it had something for a skilled workforce to do. |
| Mark Jevons, 54, has worked in the merchant navy since 1977, so is not threatened by this move, though has had his share of lean spells. They reduce numbers in the navy too, “especially now I’m getting older”. Overall, he is pessimistic. “I think the economy here’ll get hit hard. They’re scattered all around Cleveland, the men who work there, all the businesses will feel it.” | Mark Jevons, 54, has worked in the merchant navy since 1977, so is not threatened by this move, though has had his share of lean spells. They reduce numbers in the navy too, “especially now I’m getting older”. Overall, he is pessimistic. “I think the economy here’ll get hit hard. They’re scattered all around Cleveland, the men who work there, all the businesses will feel it.” |
| Four men in their 20s and early 30s in the tattoo parlour – they choose not to be named, and they do not all work in tattoos – attest to this: there have been cancellations in the shop already., they say. “There just isn’t much here apart from the steelworks,” sa id one. “I’m a plasterer by trade,” said a second, and another piped up: “I’m in construction, and when something like this happens, it saturates the market with fake builders.” | |
| Michael, 30, is out for a walk along the seafront with his three-year-old daughter, Maggie. He has six friends who work at SSI, and said: “They’re a bit sickened and fed up. It’ll be exactly the same as last time, they won’t get told anything in case they walk off site.” | Michael, 30, is out for a walk along the seafront with his three-year-old daughter, Maggie. He has six friends who work at SSI, and said: “They’re a bit sickened and fed up. It’ll be exactly the same as last time, they won’t get told anything in case they walk off site.” |
| He is a window cleaner, but is not worried that the market will become saturated with ersatz versions. “I don’t worry about things like that. If they all decide to be window cleaners, I’ll do something else. It’s more what it’ll do to the area. Little Hercules, they used to call it here. It’s our identity, really. That and the horse racing.” | |
| Ultimately, when Maggie has left home, Michael wants to get on his bike and live off-grid. “I’m sick of the whole society,” he concluded, sounding incongruously upbeat. | Ultimately, when Maggie has left home, Michael wants to get on his bike and live off-grid. “I’m sick of the whole society,” he concluded, sounding incongruously upbeat. |
| Another Michael, Michael Roe, 54, is not sick of society per se, just the people in it. “It might get people out of the area if it closes down; we’re saturated in Redcar, mile upon mile of horrible little houses,” he said. | |
| Ste, 25, is general assistant at the cafe on the beach, and is resolute about Redcar’s problems: they don’t need a steelworks. They need attractions. “Beaches are full when there are things to do. This place is just saturated with eateries and cafes. Whereas Whitby’s got it all.” | Ste, 25, is general assistant at the cafe on the beach, and is resolute about Redcar’s problems: they don’t need a steelworks. They need attractions. “Beaches are full when there are things to do. This place is just saturated with eateries and cafes. Whereas Whitby’s got it all.” |
| It is curious – everybody talks about saturation. The steel’s been mothballed, and everything else is porous. | It is curious – everybody talks about saturation. The steel’s been mothballed, and everything else is porous. |