image source, Getty Images
- Author, Mark Palmer
- Role, BBC news
The Unite union has called on Tata Steel to hold further talks before pushing ahead with plans that could see the Port Talbot operations shut down by the end of next week.
Tata originally planned to shut down the last of its blast furnaces at the site by September, but said it may shut down earlier for safety reasons due to a planned strike on July 8.
Unite called on Tata to wait for the results of Thursday’s general election before making any “irreversible decisions” before opening talks with the next UK government.
In response, Tata said safety “will come before everything else” and called on Unite to withdraw its industrial action.
Around 2,800 Tata steelworkers will lose their jobs across the UK when the company closes both Port Talbot blast furnaces.
Unions hope that if Labor wins the general election on July 4, the party could persuade Tata to take a different course with fewer job losses.
Tata said it would not change its plans regardless of who won the election and had no choice but to close early if the strike continued next week.
Meanwhile, the company has filed an application in the High Court to try to prevent the strike, saying the Unite vote was not carried out properly.
Unite denies this claim.
The other unions that represent steelworkers at the site – Community and GMB – say they will wait until after the general election before deciding whether to strike.
In a statement on Saturday, Unite said it had “repeatedly demanded a commitment from the company not to make any final decisions on the future of the blast furnaces until after the election, when meaningful negotiations can take place”.
“Instead of waiting for a likely change in government, Tata has decided to double down,” the company said, urging the company to “not make any irreversible decisions and initiate meaningful negotiations”.
In response, Tata said it could not be confident it could “operate our assets safely and stably during the period of strike action”, adding that it would have “no choice but to suspend or stop heavy operations” at Port Talbot.
“We do not take this decision lightly and recognize that it would prove extremely costly and disruptive throughout the supply chain, but the safety of people in or around our locations will always come before anything else,” it said.
Port Talbot residents have also spoken of the widespread impact of the closure on the whole town, not just those who will lose their jobs.
Speaking at the Bulldog Boxing and Community Activity Centre, Ian Jones said the closure of the kilns was “shocking”.
“The people of Port Talbot are going to lose so much, not just from the steel mill but from the people who supply the steel mill. It’s not good at all,” he said.
Mandie Pugh, who runs a breakfast van near the steelworks, said the closure would be a “big blow” to her business.
“My fingers are crossed I’ll survive because we’ve got other businesses here that come in for food, but it depends if they survive with a ripple effect because they might not be able to stay in business,” she said.
Tata plans to build a £1.25bn electric arc furnace to make steel in a way that is less polluting than traditional blast furnaces but requires fewer workers.
It said the move would secure the future of steelmaking at the site, with the UK government contributing £500m towards the cost of the project.
According to site plans, both furnaces will be shut down. Issue five will launch by the end of next week as planned, while issue four should be released by the end of September.
Preparatory work to shut down the five will begin by July 1 if the strike continues.