Union leaders are welcoming the government’s “firm commitment to a just transition” for steel, but the workforce in Scunthorpe is anxiously waiting to see what that means in practice. The phrase, used by Community’s Alasdair McDiarmid, comes as Business Secretary Peter Kyle backs a move to job-cutting electric arc furnaces (EAFs).
The term “just transition” acknowledges that the move to a green economy—in this case, switching from polluting blast furnaces to cleaner EAFs—will have victims. It implies a promise of government support, retraining, and investment to protect workers and communities affected by the change.
For Scunthorpe, the stakes are immense. Thousands of jobs are tied to the blast furnaces. The “experience of Tata Steel,” which cut 2,500 jobs at Port Talbot in a similar switch, has made the workforce deeply “cautious” of the government’s plan.
Peter Kyle, who is finalising a new steel strategy, is pushing the EAF transition to secure the plant’s future and meet climate goals. The plant has been under state control since April, when it was saved from a threatened closure by its Chinese owner.
The union is clear that a “just transition” must also mean “maintain[ing] primary steelmaking capacity.” This complicates the plan, as EAFs melt scrap. It forces the government to consider a costly hydrogen-based add-on, testing the limits of its depleted £2.5bn steel fund.
A “Just Transition” for Steel: What Does it Mean for Scunthorpe?
