Ben Houchen 'taken advantage of' by Saudis
Union claims mayor refuses to meet them or local workers over Sabic redundancies
A special mid-week edition of The Teesside Lead for you (number 70), as a union makes a pretty serious accusation against Ben Houchen.
It follows Sunday’s edition which saw me providing proof of the Tees Valley mayor lying about his contact with a company which is making over 300 people on Teesside redundant.
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On Sunday I’ll be taking a look into AI Growth Zones, and why the Government has announced one in Blyth and North Tyneside today, instead of the one that Ben Houchen has been telling everybody was coming to Teesside.
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has been “taken advantage of” by Saudi businessmen, according to a union representing Teesside workers facing redundancies at a company owned by a Saudi company.
Lord Houchen made a trip to Saudi Arabia last week where he met with Sabic’s CEO to raise concerns about the company’s plans to close their Olefins 6 cracker plant at Wilton, leading to over 300 job losses.
However, Fazia Hussain-Brown, regional officer for the union Unite, said they have “little faith” in the mayor.
“Ben Houchen claims he will not turn his back on the chemical sector and fight for jobs in the area - but we have seen no evidence of this and have little faith in his words,” she said.
“He has repeatedly ignored requests for meetings with both Unite and Sabic, refusing to travel half an hour up the A66 to meet with the Sabic senior team and the union yet has jetted off to Saudi Arabia at the taxpayers’ expense to cosy up to Sabic’s CEO.”
During his trip to Saudi Arabia last week, Lord Houchen said he’d “got a commitment from Sabic that they’re going to continue with their polyethylene plant in Teesside.”
Sabic had confirmed they would keep their polyethylene plant on Teesside open when they announced the closure of the Olefins 6 plant in June.
“Ben Houchen has clearly been taken in by the Saudis’ rhetoric and they have taken advantage of him,” added Hussain-Brown. “In particular, we are concerned he has been crowing about securing the future of Sabic's Polyethylene plant, which has never been at risk. Rather than providing relief that jobs there are safe, his comments have caused undue concern for workers at that plant.”
She said Sabic’s profitability means they should keep the cracker plant open, and that Lord Houchen’s “refusal to engage” with the union has “left workers out in the cold”.
The criticism from the union comes after The Teesside Lead was able to verify their claims Lord Houchen had lied on a BBC Radio Tees phone-in in August, when he told a worker facing redundancy he had been “in direct contact with Sabic”.
Ben Houchen only made contact with Sabic a week later, three hours after The Teesside Lead submitted a Freedom of Information request asking to see the correspondence between him and the Saudi company.
TVCA did not respond to a request for comment.
Hussain-Brown added that many workers facing redundancy have not been given promised support to find new jobs or to re-train, despite assurances from Lord Houchen, leading to “anger” among the workers affected.
“Ben Houchen must have a meeting with Unite and Sabic, as a matter of urgency, to explain himself and work with us to find a way forward,” she said.
I keep wondering: what was Houchen actually doing in Saudi? There is a weird whiff about this story. Are you thinking similar?