Steel yourselves – the boss is in step with the unions

Outlook

Steel workers march through the Arcade du Cinquantenair in Brussels (EPA)

While London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto (is there anyone I’ve missed) were flirting with HSBC at swanky restaurants, the steel industry was waiting for a date at McDonald’s that didn’t turn up.

In a rare show of unity, one of its chief executives has marched in step with the industry’s unions en route to the EU to complain about alleged Chinese dumping on to the world’s markets that they say is killing domestic industries. Small wonder. Both unions and management are getting kicked in the same place for the same reasons. All that cheap Chinese steel has already resulted in thousands of job losses, some of which will never come back, even if things unexpectedly show a dramatic improvement.

The industry says it isn’t asking for special treatment, just fair trade and for the authorities in Brussels to enforce it. The British Government, of course, says that’s what it also wants, while barely lifting a finger.

It must be hard for those in the steel industry not to cast envious glances in the direction of the banking industry, which has enjoyed more special treatment and goodies than the entire line up of Oscar nominees. They have good reason to feel the presence of the green-eyed monster.