Redcar Steel Works – 1600 Steel Workers Lose Their Jobs.

[birdie1971]

Last week 1600 people lost their jobs in Redcar in the NE of England. On the same day, the BBC's lead story was Tiger Wood's apology for philandering.

Good to know that our major news providers have their priorities right...

But I digress.

Now that the steel works at Redcar has been officially mothballed with the loss of approx. 1600 jobs, how about a little quiz?

What links the following?

1.Corus (owners of the Redcar plant) are themselves owned by an Indian company called 'Tata Steel';

2.Tata plans to increase worldwide steel production from 53 million tonnes to 124 million over the next three years;

3.By replacing inefficient old plants with new ones which emit only “European levels” of CO2, Tata could claim £600 million under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism;

4.By ceasing to emit a potential six million tonnes of CO2 a year from the Redcar plant, Corus will benefit from carbon allowances which could soon, according to European Commission projections, be worth up to £600 million over the three years before current allocations expire;

5.Taking the above two CO2 windfalls into account, Tata will gain approximately £1.2 billion in the next three years in tax payer's money.


.... So what, or rather who, links the above five statements?

[birdie1971]

Answer: Dr Pachauri.


Who's Dr Pachauri?

He's the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC].

And... wait for it...

He's also Director-General of the Tata Energy Research Institute, funded by Tata, which he has run since 1981.


Is it just me, or can anyone else see a conflict of interest here?

[birdie1971]

It really does make you wonder about the sincerity of people like Dr Pachauri who is employed in the upper echelons of a company that is proposing to 'empower' millions of Indians by selling them cheap cars, while at the same time pontificating about the dangers of CO2 on the environment.

[Gromit]

Thnere is increased demand for cars in India, as the country prospers. As their citizens become more well off, they will want the trappings of success. It is better that they have a locally produced car that emits very low emissions. If you are going to have 50million new cars on the road, a low emissions vehicle is the prefered option.

If our government had been serious about reducing emissions from cars, the scrappage deal would have been aimed primarily at low emitting vehicles. As it was, everyone went out and bought Jags and 4x4s.

[McMouse]

India will become so prosperous that shedloads of Indians will return there.

[Gromit]

birdie1971

I am a little undecided either way whether there is a conspiracy here.

But, why would TATA buy Redcar Steel Works for £6.7billion in 2007, to close it down for just £600million 3 years later?

[redcrx]

what would the land be worth, gromit? perhaps its worth more than the price they paid for Redcar. Also they are pushing prices up on steel, causing shortages in some products to get an even higher price. price increase this month is expected to be around 10-15%.

[Gromit]

redcrx

I'm not deliberately being awkward, just examining the conspiracy theory, but my guess is the site would be highly contaminated making its sale value low.

[redcrx]

lol, Gromit, i know you werent being awkward. I see your point.

But i do think theres some reason for Tata taking over Corus and slowly closing down all British steel production.

[birdie1971]

Hi Gromit,

You ask, “But, why would TATA buy Redcar Steel Works for £6.7billion in 2007, to close it down for just £600million 3 years later?”


There has been a worldwide recession... you may have heard about it.


Getting a guaranteed £1.2 billion in 'carbon refunds' from tax payer's money over the next three years seems like a pretty juicy opportunity to me

I'm sure that Dr Pachauri will be getting his well earned bonus this year.


But, of course, there's no conflict of interest is there?

[Hypognosis]

I wanted to start a thread called "Ta-Ta to Tata Steel" but it is already redundant, fittingly enough.

I wouldn't have been able to give it the same depth as Birdie gives this one. Was going to say something trite like "What would Winnie (S. Churchill) think?"

We cannot go to war ever again without steelmaking capacity and certain massively populated countries know that.

Wurrr dooom'd. Aye, dooom'd, I tell ye!

[TWR]

This Government should have stepped in to help, with the unemployment in the N.East this is totally disgusting, are we all in it together, with all respect to the South, B000LKS, the North is forgotten, the kettle is boiling!!!