London, July 18 - Thousands of British steelworkers and their families are holding a protest march Saturday in a town in northeast England where the looming closure of a Corus steel plant threatens to throw families into poverty.

Corus, which is owned by Tata Steel, has warned it may have to close down its plant in Redcar because a consortium of clients has pulled out of a 10-year contract to buy its steel, prompting the Save Our Steel march.

Local community and national union leaders warned of a 'dramatic' increase in local poverty if the 150-year-old steel plant shuts down, and appealed to the British government to help rescue the steelmaker.

Closure is expected to result in the loss of 2,000 jobs at the plant, and another 1,000 elsewhere.

But others say the status of the plant, known as Teesside Cast Products, as one of the main regional employers means its closure will result in a loss of local high street spending that could balloon into nearly 10,000 job losses.

Announcing the Save Our Steel (SOS) march, Derek Simpson, joint leader of Unite Union, said: 'In a show of defiance Unite members will march to demonstrate that 150 years of iron and steelmaking in Teesside matters.

'The loss of the Corus plant will rip the heart out of this local community. The thousands of workers at Corus must be supported in order to maintain a viable world-class industry in the future,' he said.