Job cuts at Tata Steel in focus after Keir Starmer takes office and union suspends strike

The newly elected British government said on Sunday that it was focused on preventing job losses at Tata Steel. The Keir Starmer-led government is reportedly in talks with the company. Up to 2,800 people could lose their jobs in the coming months as Britain’s biggest steel producer begins closing two of its carbon-intensive blast furnaces.

According to a Reuters report, the government is also expanding its support for the company’s transition to lower-carbon technologies.

“This is one of our top priorities. I will ensure that employment guarantees are part of our negotiations,” the BBC quoted Business Minister Jonathan Reynolds as saying.

Update on the Tata Steel workers’ strike:

The government’s focus comes after workers at the country’s largest steelmaker suspended a planned strike following a warning from the company. Tata Steel had said both blast furnaces would be shut early in the event of a strike.

Nearly 1,500 workers at the factory premises, which began a ban on overtime on June 17, were on the verge of going on strike on July 8, according to the report.

The union paused its action after the company confirmed that it was entering into discussions about “future investments in its operations and not just layoffs.”

“Focus on future investments and objectives for the company and not on renegotiating our existing plan for major manufacturing closures or improved employment support terms,” ​​a Tata spokesman was quoted as saying in the report.

The newly elected Labour government is close to signing a £500 million ($635 million) support package that the previous Conservative government promised Tata Steel to build lower-carbon arc furnaces.

Tata Steel began shutting one of its carbon-intensive blast furnaces on Thursday and plans another in September to prevent a mass strike by workers that could potentially lead to 2,800 job cuts at the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales.

The steelmaker had previously stated that its plants were nearing the end of their useful life and were therefore operationally unstable, leading to losses of almost one million pounds. Tata Steel employs around 8,000 people in the UK.