Tata Steel cancels early plant closure, union suspends strike for talks

Workers at the Tata steel plant in South Wales have suspended a planned strike due to job losses.

The Unite union, which had planned to hold a general strike starting next week, said current industrial action and next week’s strike had been suspended.

Members of Unite and other unions are at loggerheads with the company over plans to close the two blast furnaces at its Port Talbot plant in South Wales and switch to a single arc furnace that requires fewer workers.

Tata had originally planned to close the second of the two remaining blast furnaces at the end of September, while the closure of the first is due to begin this week. After Unite announced a strike, Tata announced it would bring forward the second closure on safety grounds, accelerating the loss of 2,800 jobs.

Following talks with Tata over the weekend, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham described this as a “significant development” in the fight to safeguard jobs and the long-term future of steel production in South Wales.

She claimed that Labour investment secured by Unite was vital to the future of the site, adding: “This breakthrough would not have been possible without the courage of our members in Port Talbot who stood up and fought for their jobs. Workers were simply not prepared to stand idly by while steel production was halted and their communities devastated.”

“It is vital that these discussions progress expeditiously and in good faith, with a focus on new investment and ensuring the long-term continuation of steel production in South Wales.”

The 1,500 members of the Unite union at Tata in the region imposed a ban on overtime and work-to-rule on 17 June and planned to begin an indefinite strike next Monday. However, both forms of industrial action have been suspended.

Tata Steel said it had received written confirmation from Unite that it was ending its industrial action.

“As we are now confident of having the resources required to operate safely, we will therefore cease preparations for the early shutdown of Blast Furnace 4 and the wider heavy furnace end at Port Talbot planned for this week. We welcome the fact that we have not had to go further down this path.”

The Indian company said it would resume talks with steel unions, with “the focus being on future investments and objectives for the company rather than on renegotiating our existing plans to close heavy industry or improve employment support conditions.”

“The dismantling process for blast furnace 5 has now started as planned and we expect to be able to produce the last iron by the end of this week.”

Other unions, including Community and GMB, also campaigned for Tata to change its plans, but did not resort to calling for industrial action.

Alun Davies, national representative for Community, said: “With thousands of jobs at stake, we welcome Unite’s decision to withdraw their strike and return to the negotiating table with their sister unions in the steel industry.

“Tata confirmed that if the strike is ended, it is ready to resume talks on a possible MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) through the Multi-Union Steel Committee, which is chaired by the community.

“The truth is that Tata has never given up on these talks and at our last meeting on May 22, all unions agreed to conclude the negotiations and present the outcome to our members. The community will welcome the resumption of these talks but we regret that no progress has been made since May 22.”

The first blast furnace is scheduled to be shut down on Thursday, the second at the end of September.