The site is to be completely shut down with the loss of 780 jobs. Ebbw Vale is a town built on iron and steel. In the 1960s, the plant there employed 14,500 people. Even though that has been whittled down to the 1,000 by 2001, the steel industry remained at the heart of the community. Many residents have said it is hard to imagine that Ebbw Vale will be forced to survive without that identity.
People are angry because workers here put in a record-making performance.
They claim they have the highest productivity record in Europe. As the political fall-out of Corus's decision continues to mushroom, workers who face a future out of work, said the underlying feeling was one of bitter betrayal. Peter Lloyd, who has worked at the Llanwern plant since it opened in 1962, said workers felt let down by Corus. They trained us, but after all this hard work they are just saying 'thank you very much'. We are losing our money, our lives, our pride.