Because there is no British Steel. Aside from Tata and Mittal Indian ownership, much of what was left of British Steel was bought by Jingye, a Chinese company, in 2020 but who have already failed to deliver on its promised investment here.
Okay see what you mean! So I suppose Steel produced in Britain surely has to be better than imports from India ,China etc .
I dont think that we have very many major companies operating in the UK that are really solely owned by the UK any more. Any one of them can be persuaded by a low productivity strike prone workforce or subsidies elsewhere to move operations to another cheaper country. So we have to play the subsidy game against all the outher countries to avoid unemployment and for strategic reasons. Tata will probably end up making low carbon steel in the Netherlands or India.
If we can’t find people to care for our old folks in social care now … how are we going to find people who are willing to go into a coal mine?
Put play station 5 terminals every 500 yards along the coal mine, place an agony aunt every 200 yards and a claims solicitor every 200 yards . Give a contract for 8 hour days , one day a week, four weeks a year.
I expect the very few modern coal miners will climb into their air conditioned machines, press the start button to commence the planned operations and just hit the stop button if a problem shows up.. Then be driven back up to the surface at the end of the shift.. They will be working in conditions and ways that old style management would not have paid for and which old unions would have forbidden because it needed investment and far fewer miners. The real problem is the British art of poor management and commercial decisions combined with a self destructive workforce.
Been stockpiling since the mid eighties. Did they get it right, or is hindsight well and truly 2020? Personally I've always considered closing productive pits as futureproofing our energy needs on circumstances as such we are in at the moment. Anyone else of the same persuasion?
Well that’s one perspective. What seems strange is that the coal to be produced is solely for production of high grade steel, yet the potential customers for this coal have unequivocally stated that they not only don’t need it but it’s constitution is too sulphurous . Even without this reaction from potential customers it seems to be accepted that 80-85% will be exported. Seems strange, I wonder who the owners/ investors are as I seem to smell another rat here. Happy for my cynical view to be shot down
Being an ex-miner I suspect it all comes down to the wages and bonuses offered for productivity. I was an underground mining engineer (fitter) from 1981 to 1988 and as much as I was sent/worked on the coal face/headings/developments, I didn't receive the weekly productivity bonus the 'teams' I worked alongside did. This was because I was not 'listed' as being/working where I was, but instead one of the older fitters who had 'done their time' underground was roistered as being there (whom usually languished on the pit top in the workshops fabricating parts or repairing machinery) . As such I instead received a weekly 'pit bonus' that was significantly less than what the coal face/heading/developments staff received. But despite not receiving the larger weekly bonus I was still on a good wage. In April of 1988 I recall that my P45 showed my gross earnings at over £16,00 and by October of 1988 (when I resigned to join the Police) I had earned over £10,000 (my gross yearly wage in the Police in 1988 was just £10,0o0). If the new coal mine owners intend to pay wages comparative to what miners like myself were earning in 1988, the wage offered would now have to be around £42,000 Carers whom attend the elderly in their homes whom are often confused or incapable of looking after themselves, (but are left in their homes as it's cheaper than the Council forcing/putting them into a care home), often get verbal abuse from the confused clients or have to clean up after the clients loss of bowel/bladder control. They are often roistered to carry out the care for more clients than they should do, as the management force them to service more and more clients so as to get more lucrative contracts from the council. They are expected to do all this care from early in the morning till late at night 7 days a week but only get the minimum wage....yet could earn more by stacking the shelves in a supermarket. I for one can see why no one wants to be a carer.
