Introduction To The Ravenscraig Steelworks

The Ravenscraig Steelworks where located in scotlands' central belt, the works where just between Motherwell and Wishaw. The Ravenscraig steelworks are located in Scotland�s central belt between Motherwell and Wishaw, the steelworks provided jobs for 15,000 people at its peak during the 1970�s but that number had declined to 7,000 when the plant closed in 1992. The steelworks made the steel and iron for use in shipbuilding on the Clyde and later for car body panels in England. The equipment used to make the steel and iron was huge and in it�s time the steelworks where among the most technologically advanced in Europe. The steelworks where located in Motherwell because of the local resources available, coal and iron ore, the limestone which was needed was imported from BSC quarries in Shapfell, England. Ravenscraig also had the advantage of being close to main transport links and a market for it�s produce. The M8 and M74, M6 all gave good routes to the south and north, the river Clyde was also used to export the steel by boat. During Ravenscraig�s peak in the 1970�s steel was produced at around 57,000 tonnes of steel a week and 3 million tonnes of steel a year. The steelworks employed many people from the surrounding area, including Hamilton, Motherwell and Glasgow. The closure of Ravenscraig didn�t just result in the loss of jobs at Ravenscraig but Threatened around 1300 companies with a total workforce of 10,000.

The Ravenscraig steelworks closed in 1992 with the loss of 7000 jobs. The workers all had their thing to say about the closure of the steelworks but they all felt the same, angry. Claud Fleming said this to a reporter as he left for the last time, "It's just one of these things. We will need to have to accept it and that's it ... British Steel or the Government, it doesn't matter, they don't seem to care what happens. "We got a medal there last week for breaking production levels, and this is what happens. I feel betrayed. I don't know what's going to happen to me now." , this was the response most people had as they left. The main problem with the closure of the factory was the redundancies, many of the younger workers found work easily but the older workers could not as they where only trained in one thing and that was steel-making. The Ravenscraig steelworks closed because of a fall in demand for the steel which the works was producing, the works also closed because the local raw materials had been exhausted and the cost to import the material from abroad had became too expensive. The Ravenscraig steelworks was importing its iron ore and coal in from Brazil, Australia, Sweden and West Africa. The steelworks had also over-employed as they had far to many workers than they really needed this and the increasing costs due to inflation. The worldwide demand for steel lead to a massive expansion of the steelworks and workforce so that they could compete with other countries, this ultimately lead to the fall of the Scottish steelworks. As people left the works many knew that they would not find another job.