Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Today's Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Inside Out (Monday 19 October) takes presenter Chris Jackson to India where he visits the headquarters of Tata Steel – the parent company of steelmaker Corus – where he is told that the Teesside operation must reduce costs and become more competitive in order to survive.

Chris begins his journey in Teesside's Redcar with Corus workers Paul and Billy, who have worked for the company since the mid-Eighties.

They say that ever since they began work at the plant it has been under constant threat of closure. But, in May this year, came their biggest shock – the company's main customer reneged on a 10-year contract. This has left the workforce looking down the barrel of mass redundancies, or even closure by Christmas.

The next leg of the journey takes Chris on a 5,000 mile trip to Jamshedpur in India, to find out what Corus' owners plan to do about the problems in Teesside. He discovers that not only is Jamshedpur the location of the Tata Steel operation but it is a town owned by the company and populated by its workers.

Here, workers and their families enjoy an above-average standard of living and have access to free hospital care, education, extensive sporting facilities, including golf courses, and consider themselves, and subsequent generations, to have a job for life. In fact, when workers are made redundant, Tata carries on paying their wages for life. It's no wonder that one man Chris speaks to calls Tata bosses "gods".

Tata's paternalistic leanings stem from a belief that industry is for the good of society and should therefore serve the needs of society – it believes the best way this can be done is by taking care of the community.

Of course, that used to happen in Teesside where thousands of families were housed and looked after by their employers – but many of these communities are now long gone.

Chris discovers that, despite a world recession, Tata business is booming – so much so that it has massive expansion plans in India and in Vietnam.

So why is Corus suffering so badly? Chris discovers that many industry experts believe that Tata paid way over the odds for the Corus takeover and therefore won't invest in Corus until it has reduced its debt.

When asked whether he feels the same sense of responsibility for the Teesside workers, Tata's Head of Worldwide Operations, Mr B Muthuraman, says that Tata has a great commitment to people but that business must ensure that it is competitive.

He says the only and best way to prevent unemployment is to reduce costs. He also believes that the Teesside operation should be doing more to make this happen and that its future is in its own hands.

Back in Teesside, Corus worker Paul says: "This is Tata stepping in [in India] saying we'll look after you people that are gonna work for us, build villages for you, have accommodation for you, pay your bills for you and there's a job there for your son and your son's sons. They're doing nothing here."

Corus now only has enough orders to take it through to the end of this year. Whatever happens, unlike the Indian workers, this generation of steel workers is worried that it's the last.

Inside Out, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One North East & Cumbria, Monday 19 October, 7.30-8.00pm.

RF