STAINLESS steel giant Outokumpu has been accused of betraying Sheffield after announcing it is to axe another 110 jobs at its melting shop in the city.
The cuts come three months after the Finnish company announced it was cutting 50 jobs and three shifts in the same melting shop at Shepcote Lane, Tinsley, and only six months after Outokumpu said it was axing its thin strip business at Meadowhall, with the loss of 230 jobs.
One worker told The Star: "Everyone is feeling a bit betrayed. We feel we are the scapegoats and everything is geared towards saving jobs in Finland and Sweden.
"It always seems to be Sheffield that's targeted. People are downhearted."
And Sheffield Attercliffe MP Clive Betts told The Star: "I have been unconvinced for some time that Outokumpu have been committed to Sheffield. They invested enormous amounts in Finland in the past and they are reducing the capacity by cutting in Sheffield.
"There was a chance a few years ago that they could have divested themselves of the Sheffield plant and it could have gone on alone or linked up with others, but they didn't do it.
"It isn't that the Sheffield plant is not efficient and productive - it is that they need to cut capacity to provide work for Sweden and Finland.
"The workforce have been really co-operative - it's really a kick in the teeth for them."
But Outokumpu denied Sheffield is being targeted. It says its plants in Finland and Sweden will also be hit and it remains committed to the city where Harry Brearley discovered stainless steel almost 100 years ago.
"Even after these job cuts, we will still have around 450 people left in Sheffield," said a spokesman.
"We will still have a melting shop capable of producing half a million tonnes of stainless steel, although operating at significantly less than that capacity, and a distribution company which has enjoyed some good investment in recent years and is by far and away the largest supplier of stainless in the UK."
Sheffield Central MP Richard Caborn said the news was "disappointing".
He said: "Obviously it's disappointing to see 100 jobs go like this in manufacturing. This is part of the downturn and I am hoping they will continue to keep the skills that are necessary for the upturn."
At the start of the year the melting shop employed 290 workers and was operating on 18 shifts.
Following the latest cuts, the plant will employ around 140 people but will still be operating for 15 shifts, although it will only be melting steel for half the week.
During the rest of the week, melting shop workers will be transferred to work on finishing processes or preparing the melting shop.
Outokumpu says the cutbacks will reduce production from current levels of 350,000 tonnes a year to 200,000 tonnes.
Consultations with workers and unions over the latest round of cuts will start on Monday, and Outokumpu says it will "consider all reasonable practicable measures to alleviate the personal hardship caused by this proposal".
News of the cuts came as Outokumpu announced it was looking for further cost savings after suffering a "significant operating loss" on sales which have more than halved, compared with the same period last year.
Outokumpu is suspending the operation of its Chromium mine and ferrochrome plant in Finland, which will affect 300 people, and introducing a rolling programme of lengthy temporarily lay-offs, which will affect all 1,500 staff at its Tornio plant.
In Sweden, more than 170 jobs are going at its Degofors plant and discussions are taking place at its Avesta plant about an as yet unspecified number of job cuts.
Figures published this week show Outokumpu lost €249m in the first quarter of 2009 on sales, down from €1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2008 to €679m.
That compares with a profit of €100m in the first quarter of 2008 and a loss of €271m in the last quarter of 2008. Group sales in the last quarter of 2008 were €966m.
Chief executive Juha Rantanen said: "The stainless markets were exceptionally weak and this is reflected in our loss-making first quarter."
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