BSC slashes 2,000 Midland steel jobs

WEST GERMANY'S giant car firm, Volkswagen, is to cut its workforce by 6,000 and also reduce the number of its white-collar workers by 1,600 before the end of September.

The firm expects to sell 170,000 fewer cars this year than in 1971.

Volkswagen • is feeling the full blast of last year's August 15 Nixon measures and the revaluation of the mark, as well as of the intensive competition from the big Japanese carmakers.

Two of the biggest of the latter, Toyota and Nissan, are planning to set up assembly plants in Ireland later this year.

They claim that the intention is to beat a 75 per cent import duty on assembled cars. Both companies deny that they aim to establish a bridgehead for sales in Britain and Europe after Ireland's entry into the Common Market.

But their Irish move is clearly another move in the trade war.

The fall in British-Leyland's profits are another sign of the bitter competition which now rages between the world's giant car firms.

The cutbacks at Volkswagen are bound to be followed by other firms in a desperate effort to cut costs and maintain profit margins. Part of the Stanton and Staveley complex near Nottingham. THE MIDLANDS engineering industry been hit by another pate of closures which will throw at least 2,000 on the dole.

The latest closures are by the British Steel Corporation and Staveley Machine Tools, part of the Staveley Industries This new surge of redundancies is a further sign of the deep economic recession biting into British industry.

It completely destroys the Tories' persistent forecasts that the economy is 'recovering' and that their reflationary policies are working. On the contrary, Chancellor Barber's measures have made no dint whatsoever in the decline in industrial investment or output.

The new closures come in the wake of other devastating sackings in recent weeks-1,450 redundancies in the Ransome, Hoffman Pollard ball-bearing group, the 1,500 toy jobs at Triang's in South London and the placing of Herbert Ingersoll, Daventry, into liquidation.

The BSC decision is to axe the blast furnaces, the coke ovens and slag plant at the Stanton Works, near Nottingham.

This will cut 1,500 jobs by the end of 1973.

The works is part of the tubes division's Stanton and Staveley Group. One section will be phased out in September and the remainder will be closed over the next 18 months.

The plants produce foundry pig iron and have been a major supplier to the iron foundry industry.

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A BSC statement said: 'Demand has fallen considerably in recent years because of technological developments within the industry. This fall in demand was responsbile for the initial cut back in ironmaking capacity at Stanton in the autumn of 1971 when the two Old Works blast furnaces were shut down.

'A continuing fall in the demand for foundry pig iron is forecast.' The BSC proposes to concentrate production of foundry pig iron at its Workington Works in Cumberland.

The Staveley decision to close its Archdale works at Worcester is further evidence of the critical situation in the machine-tool industry. Both Archdale and the recently - bankrupted Herbert Ingersoll produce special purpose machines for the motor industry.

The closure will mean another 400 skilled engineers joining the unemployment queues. Mersey MPs plea for Welsh steel MERSEYSIDE Labour MPs 1 to stop the threatened rundo Flintshire, North Wales.

There have been persistent rumours that the British Steel Corporation might want to close down steel making at Shotton and concentrate only on steel finishing, putting about 6,000 workers out of jobs.

eric Heffer, Labour MP for Walton, has issued a statement saying that Merseyside MPs are 'deeply worried'.

He went on: "The Ministry of Industry, Mr Tom Boardman, ın announcing the future investment of the British Steel Corporation on May 8, excluded he shop plant trom immediate It has been suggested that it steel-making in Wales and exmay be economic for BSC to manufacture steel ingots at the trating the work on the east central plant, possibly at Redcar. coast, as seems possible under If this were to take place, this one of the alternative plans now could have a serious effect re- on the BSC list. garding employment in the area. Redundancies at Shotton would that BSC chairman Lord Melchett further aggravate the already may visit the steelworks to disserious employment difficulties cuss its future with the workers' on Merseyside.' MORE INDUSTRIAL NEWS P.10 A question mark now hangs over Staveley's four other machine - tool companies — Lapointe, Drummond, Asquith and Kearns-Richards.

Ian Richardson, the 'Birmingham Post's' business editor, yesterday praised Staveley's wise decision to close down . Archdale.

He wrote: What matters much more is that, instead of Archdale's becoming in two months' time a frightening drain on Staveley's cash resources, closure will release significant amounts of cash.

'All this was taken into account when Staveley forecast last week a further improvement in profits in the half-year to September.

"That leaves Staveley's shares which have slipped to 115p this week, comfortably below the value of the assets and worth buying for recovery in 19721973.' Thus the grotesque logic of capitalism — closures and redundancies mean greater profit for the shareholders. re now joined in the campaign 1 of the Shotton steelworks in The MPs are trying to get the government to back Shotton in any future BSC investment plans. Management at Shotton has submitted an alternative plan to BSC for the investment of about £50m in two basic steel-melting furnaces which would complete the entire modernization of the works and enable steel making to continue.

Earlier this week, the County Clerk of Flintshire, Mr T. M. Havdn Rees. led a denutation to Welsh Secretary "of *State, Mr Peter Thomas, to discuss the plant's future.

BSC plans for the future of steel are likely to be considered at Cabinet level within the next few months. Mr Thomas will be putting the case for keeping panding it rather than concenIt has also been announced action committee at the plant.