I don't know if any of you have heard, although its been all over the news, but Caparo, manufacturers of the shitty T1, have gone into administration... I work for them as an agency worker and now I'm out of work
I worked with them as a quality control engineer for 17 weeks, there were talks of taking me on but now i dunno where i stand, other than in line on the rock and roll
The steel industry side of Caparo are really in the schtuck but i work(ed) for the manufacturing of products for companies like JCBamford and Caterpillar at Willenhall Site Caparo. I'm hoping there is still hope for myself and the other guys whom have lost their jobs there.
The Willenhall Site comprises of 4 companies owned by Caparo, 3 of which are in profit. I can't see the one company coming out of this well, more than likely it will be liquidated and flogged in bits, but the others I still hold hope for.
Im trying to keep it together but this year has been the hardest for me yet
I have a newborn child, my Dad has an aggressive terminal brain tumour, I have to move out of the family home to sell it to help my dad pay his mortgage so homeless practically, sister is ill in hospital, I'm now out of work, have depts and bills to pay and things can't get any worse
On the upside, things are probably looking up as i am already at rock bottom the optimist in me is saying 'it can't get any worse' the pessimist is saying 'whats to go wrong next'...pfff
I just wanted to know if there is anyone else who has been affected, by either this or SSI Redcar, on here. If there are, my thoughts are with you all, this is going to be a tough time for all of the 1,700+ employees of Caparo and the ~1,000 (unsure of the amount) temp/agency workers and the 1,000's at Redcar plant who are out of work right now.
I thought the Chinese were our friends, but bidness is bidness i guess, undercutting the UK steel industry flooding the market with cheap steel, now look at 'Great' Britain
I've seen what's going on in the NE with redundancies lately, only reason I'm down in Yorkshire is because my grandad came down from Newcastle to find work in Denaby main pit, my heart goes out to you mate, just seems like us Northerners' getting a shitty rub once again, as u say though the only way is up so keep plodding on pal x
one thing alot of companies really like, apart from qualifications, is reliability, and if you have been at the current company for 17 years, well, thats reliability.
really wish you the best of luck in these tough times.
Not always Grumpy!!
306 Cabby SE, 2.0l 16v
To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be!
Best of luck, it's just one of the downsides to the Chinese economy slowing down.
Their country was gobbling up resources like nobodys business, you couldn't make steel or mine iron ore fast enough.
Now it's hit the breaks there's no where for this stuff to go, so it sits on the market as a massive over-supply.
I understand the government haven't helped much with the carbon tax credits thing, but unfortunately at the moment everyone is making steel and no-one is buying it, I'm sure there will be plants all over the world hitting the wall.
I got some good news last night, the agency have allowed all the agency workers back at the Willenhall Site, so now there are loads back in work including myself, but not great for all of those out of work still
Its a sorry state of affairs where i am working with production running low and JCB pulling out on some of the jobs we do for them big contracts too We've all been told that for the next couple of weeks its going to be quieter than usual.
We will all have to see what the next few weeks hold for us...i hope for the best, but...*shrugs*
I'd start looking anyway mate, just in case. Even if it all stays good at the current place you will probably find there's something else around for more money.
Nissan is sunderland biggest employer, and it isnt all that stable, that company is always makes redunancies. It isnt a nice company to work for either from what i have been told, by a fare few people! Also i was told, nissan dont make cars, the assemble them only, they make their own steel, thats about it, most of their stuff now is renault based too. Everything is all sub contracted out, where i work now, has contracts for honda, bmw, renault, nissan, landrover. We make the trims for those cars, and i think some of the nissan trims are even painted here now. Nissan is the slow moving line out of the rest of contracts.
I am over the moon your back in work, the north east does really suffer from reduancies, If nissan got shut down, that would be a major blow to the north east sector.
I never trust the Chinese, as they are all out for them selves and rip the rest of the world off, most of the software cracks are Chinese too!
The problem with some Northern towns is they're really very focused on one particular industry or employer, and when that go's tits up the entire place is totally f*cked.
It's not like it's something new, this has gone on for decades but you still get some areas with one company employing damn near everyone.
23-10-2015, 12:37 PM (This post was last modified: 23-10-2015, 12:37 PM by highwayman306.)
Yeah very true. I am still looking but i think there are some buyers interested in the company i work for. Only trouble is, the company was competition for these potential buyers, and they are only interested in our catalogue of products. Once/if they buy they are likely to take the catalogue and make the products in france! Which is not good.
I can only hope at the moment that there may be a future for Willenhall Site...and the British steel industry
Anyone got any jobs
(23-10-2015, 11:04 AM)r3k1355 Wrote: The problem with some Northern towns is they're really very focused on one particular industry or employer, and when that go's tits up the entire place is totally f*cked.
It's not like it's something new, this has gone on for decades but you still get some areas with one company employing damn near everyone.
the thing is not many new companies will invest up here either, its all down the south end sadly, we lost our ship yards, we don't even have anything to show for that now, as its all been ripped down, even our own brewery was flattened! Newcastle I would say is the only one that has really kept anything. Sunderland just gets f*cked about with.
Its nice to see the company I work for trying to get different contracts for other car companies just to keep our area going, ( and I don't mean just sunderland)
if the money was right Matt, i probably would I know where i stand with tools and a mission, as for talking English...
i tryski
The other thing is i like Hereford it beats the dull, drab and boring lifestyle of living in an industrialised town on the outskirts of Birmingham!
In my old IT job i used to travel all over the UK fixing till systems and chip+pin terminals etc. BORING! I got to see a lot of places though, Hereford was a nice place albeit the roads around town were very narrow and people liked to walk from everywhere into the way, but nice and chilled when outside the centre.
Its a different pace of life inside of cities and concrete jungles, it seems like everyone is in a rush and they are all pissed off and miserable lol In the country its far more 'laid back'.
I left that job because i was spending more time away from home and the wife, also the money wasn't great, it was more about the perks.
The map is just where I've been, but i couldn't be arsed to carry on saving places, but most were logged on there...
Unfortunately most manually intensive/dangerous industries will be at the mercy of China as long as they can sell/export the products. Cheap labour a 0 elf n safety = cheap end product that no one can compete with even though quality is poor.
I too work in the metal industry and we have been struggling against China for years, not just for selling the product but for buying raw materials at sensible prices. They are the main exporter of our particular raw materials and whack ridiculous amounts of export tax on it.
All I can say on your situation is to get your CV in order, join places like jobsite.co.uk and seriously look elsewhere. I am constantly getting emails about engineering jobs. As you say you've got a baby to provide for now which should be your priority. Even if you get a job which isn't your field, take it, get some stability back then you can look for better.
![[Image: 9fa12c59-0c3d-4413-968d-6a7840ff068f.jpg]](http://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv295/highwayman306/9fa12c59-0c3d-4413-968d-6a7840ff068f.jpg)
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