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Black and white wrap marks steelworks closure on daily’s patch

A black and white front page wrap marking the loss of 1,700 jobs in a steelworks closure has been published by a regional daily.

The Northern Echo printed the special wraparound today after Thai company SSI announced it was mothballing iron and steelmaking at its Redcar plant.

A fortnight ago SSI has announced it was “pausing” steel production at the facility, leading the Echo to launch a ‘Save Our Steel’ campaign urging the government to intervene.

However, the company has now said it is mothballing steelmaking at the site for at least five years, citing poor trading conditions and the low price of steel across the world for the closure.

Northern abandon

The wrap, shown above, features a picture of an abandoned boat on the River Tees in front of the steelworks, with the headline taken from a quote by one affected steelworker to the Echo.

Editor Peter Barron is the son of a steelworker and grew up in the steel community of South Bank, near Middlesbrough.

He said: “These communities are part of what’s going to be devastated so I have quite a strong empathy with what’s happening, and the depth of the impact that people are going to feel.

“It’s just such a huge story for the area with massive implications. I felt it was important we did something that captures the enormity of the whole situation and I feel we;ve done that.

“I feel (the picture) symbolises the feeling on Teesside.”

Peter has vowed to continue the ‘Save Our Steel’ campaign to urge the government to keep the blast furnaces lit in the hope a buyer can be found and another operator can come in.

It is estimated up to 9,000 jobs in Teesside’s steel supply chain could be affected by the closure.

He added: “It’s a very simple campaign. What we’re saying is the fabric of society, right down to corner shops ans schools, live and breathe steel.

“We think it makes economic sense to keep things going.

“If they can bail out the banks, why can’t they bail out the steelworks?”

9 comments

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  • September 29, 2015 at 12:40 pm
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    Excellent – that’s what the local press was made for!

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  • September 29, 2015 at 1:02 pm
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    I should think most of the Northern Echo’s readers aren’t overly fussed, given they don’t actually live on Teesside and are in North Yorkshire and County Durham.

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  • September 29, 2015 at 1:14 pm
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    If anyone ever doubted the power of the right photo just drink this in. Depressing story but superb graphic presentation. Top work.

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  • September 29, 2015 at 1:15 pm
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    please can you clarify where this statement about 5 years before production can restart comes from? ‘the company’ has not said anything along those lines to it workers.

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  • September 29, 2015 at 2:43 pm
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    Thank goodness the regional press owners don’t behave in the same way as SSI, ceasing production at short notice without looking to see if any interested parties might want to take the job on. Oh, ermm….

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  • September 29, 2015 at 2:56 pm
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    Using a picture from Flickr (with permission) a day before the NE makes all but one of its photographers redundant….

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  • September 29, 2015 at 3:21 pm
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    Superb presentation. Hats off to the sub who designed it.

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  • September 29, 2015 at 3:37 pm
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    Sad story but excellent coverage from The Northern Echo.

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