Corus workers in strike ballot over Teeside closure

THOUSANDS of steel workers across the UK are to be balloted for strikes in protest at the mothballing of the Corus plant on Teesside.

The GMB union said its members at the company will vote in the next few weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.

The union's executive decided to press ahead with the ballot as the mothballing started at the plant in Redcar with the loss of up to 1,600 jobs.

Keith Hazlewood, national officer of the GMB, accused Corus of going back on a promise to delay the mothballing of the plant.