Appeal for Corus 'goodwill talks'

There are 1,920 employees at the Teesside plant

Redcar MP Vera Baird will appeal to Corus bosses to agree to goodwill talks in a bid to save about 2,000 jobs.

The firm may have to mothball Teesside Cast Products after a consortium, led by Italian firm Marcegaglia, pulled out of a 10-year contract.

Ms Baird said boss Antonio Marcegaglia had agreed to meet with Corus in the UK but that relations remained difficult.

She said she hoped to speak to chiefs at the steel company on Tuesday in an effort to "get the two sides talking".

The MP flew out to Italy last week to hold a meeting with Mr Marcegaglia, where she presented him with a petition signed by 240 businesses.

Speaking on Tuesday, she said: "Mr Marcegaglia made it clear that the professionalism of the workforce and the quality of the product is not an issue.

Redundancy notices

"The problem is that relations with Corus are not good at the moment because they believe the consortium walked away from the contract, but Marcegaglia feel that they have done nothing wrong.

"If Corus are right they get damages in two years but that doesn't keep my constituents' jobs."

A government representative also attended the meeting in Italy, and Ms Baird is awaiting a response from Business Secretary Peter Mandelson before approaching Corus.

She said she was confident the government would help facilitate talks to save the Redcar plant, where workers have been put on a 90-day redundancy notice.

The agreement which has fallen through was signed in 2004 and committed the consortium of Marcegaglia, Dongkuk Steel Mills Co Ltd, Duferco Participations Holding Ltd and Alvory SA, to buying just under 78% of the plant's production for 10 years.