.PUNKLEFACE

 This is the road to nowhere...........

24 year my husband travelled this road and his father 27 year before him....two brother in laws also took this journey, night and day ,sun and rain season after season........

 They came here...the oldest Chemical plant in teeside, open  for over a hundred years.... in some form or other

 Here they spent their youth, from 16 my husband worked in this tough and dangerous environment, a staunch trade unionist who followed in his fathers footsteps to become  union convener for the 350 men who worked there......he comes from a socialist background , a politically aware family, a proud trade unionist.

Six year ago half of the work force were made redundant and of course as soon as i heard the news i knew my husband would be in the front of the que...you see he'd fought for the rights of the men for so many years and the factory had been bought by an American company so he didn't stand a chance......

ELEMENTIS CHROMIUM EAGLESCLIFFE.
A STORY OF INDUSTRIAL VANDALISM.

An open letter from Bruce Norman, ex-managing director.

In the last few days there has been much media attention paid to the potential closure of the Corus Teesside Steelworks with the loss of thousands of jobs and the demise of one of Britain's Industrial successes What has received far less attention is an equally significant closure happening 10 miles up the river at the Eaglescliffe site of Elementis Chromium. An industrial site with a proud heritage that stretches back 175 years. The closure may only impact a few hundred people rather than several thousand, but is equally devastating for the employees and families involved.

The rest of the workforce were  made redundant three year ago.....industrial terrorism my husband called it.We were the lucky ones if you can call it lucky,my husband drives buses now,my sister and brother in law wernt that lucky...they lost everything.

Its six year since that awful day when  our lives were turned upside down ,an insecure future which still exists today, the  worry and sadness , hard working men who risked their lives daily  for other peoples profit.............

We had a drive out to the site yesterday....empty all of it gone...

All except the expensive office complex....

I watched my husband face as he pointed out where the kilns had been ,the canteen, the shower block his plant and Davids plant...

North jobs axed to save US factories

8:04am Thursday 30th April 2009 in News Exclusive By Deborah Johnson

A BRITISH-OWNED chemical company was last night accused of failing to support UK industry and jobs after it pulled the plug on its North- East plant while pledging to sustain two factories in the US.
Unions said they were “absolutely disgusted” with Elementis for announcing the closure of its chromium plant in Urlay Nook, near Eaglescliffe, on Teesside, which is the only factory of its type in the UK.

It made me so sad and i so wanted to cry.......