Corus Faces Up To Press Speculation

The Birmingham Post warned that Corus may be looking for a merger which would end up detroying jobs locally. They also suggested that there were some thoughts that the business could end up operating from China! If new laws on the environment did not give the company substantial Government help.

Fears are growing thousands of steel industry jobs could be lost if India's Tata Steel merges with its British unit Corus, formerly British Steel, to cut costs.

The proposed merger next year would see the creation of the world's second biggest steel maker after Arcelor Mittal, according to press reports.

The plan could cause UK plant closures and job losses at a time when Corus and unions are trying to prevent redundancies by discussing pay cuts of up to ten per cent for the 25,000 workers.

The move is believed to be part of plans by Tata to cut costs in the UK bypounds 350million after the Indian industrial giant's acquisition of Corus, agreed in 2006.

Corus axed 100 jobs at a steel distribution centre in Wednesfield in the West Midlands in November along with a further 300 at sites in Wales and West Yorkshire.