'WE CAN take all the industrial action we like —and from 2 January we will be stopping the movement of all iron ore, steel; and coal for the steel industry bọt shutting the plants Corporation wants to close?
That's a comment from Archie Kirkwood, divisional officer for the National Union of Railwaymen in South and Central Wales, and chairperson 01 te committee. It indicates the scale of the problem now facing some hundreds of thousands of working people whose livelihoods are on the chopping block thanks to the Tories' plans for the steel industry.
The executive of the rail union has ordered its members to ensure that: 'Nothing will move, whether it is raw material or iron ore.' reason is plain enough, as Kirkwood explains.
Iron ore Is shipped through the Port Talbot Tidal Harbour and is then transported to the steel works at Port ¡alool Dy Llanwern by rail. The latter involves seven full train-loads a day.
Add to that the transport by rail of coal to the steel works, and of the finished product to really this is simply the Steel Welsh TUC's economic through, The into South will be convevor belt and to the blant ai ; various parts of Britain, and the number of rail Tolsthreatened by the likely closure of Port Llanwern rapidly Nationally, about 18 per cent of rail freight comes from the steel industry.
The steel works in Wales were located in areas of high unemployment, shaping much of the economy of the region to the needs of steel. Already the plants at Shotton and Ebbw Vale have been axed. With the new effect on jobs in the steel, rail, and - in Kirkwood's words — will be 'tremendous'.
The figure he puts on it is 50,000 more on the dole queues in Wales. If BSC's plans that figure would multiplied by something like five to give the full impact of the closures nationally.
For Archie Kirkwood, the answer lies in subsidising coal production so thai British steel more competitive market. He's not very confident that this ides - which would require the lories to reverse their whole economic strategy — considered, let alone implemented.
And that, it is fair to say, is as far as the vision of the labour leaders goes.