Tata UK steelworks strike suspended: union
A proposed strike next week at Tata Steel UK’s sprawling Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales has been called off, unions said Monday, citing a resumption of talks with management.
The Indian-owned giant plans to start shutting the first furnace at the UK’s biggest steelworks soon and the second by the end of 2024 under the overhaul, as it transitions to greener production.
The Unite trade union had announced in response that Tata staff would begin an indefinite strike from July 8 in protest over the job-slashing plans — but this has now been suspended.
Britain’s main opposition Labour party, widely expected to beat the governing Conservatives in a general election on July 4, had urged Tata to avert the strike.
“Unite… has today confirmed that its current industrial action at Tata in South Wales has been paused,” the union said in a statement on Monday.
“The decision follows confirmation from Tata, arising from high-level talks throughout the weekend, that it was now prepared to enter into negotiations about future investment for its operations and not just redundancies, in South Wales, including at Port Talbot.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham hailed a “breakthrough” over the matter.
“This is a significant development in the battle to protect jobs and the long-term future of steel making in South Wales. Investment from Labour secured by Unite will be key to the future of the site.
“This breakthrough would not have come about without the courage of our members at Port Talbot who were prepared to stand up and fight for their jobs.
“Workers were simply not prepared to stand idly by while steel making ended and their communities were laid to waste.”
The ovens, which had initially been planned to shutter from July, are used to turn coal into coke, a key raw material used in the steel-making process.
Tata had revealed in January that it was planning to shut the coke ovens and two high-emission blast furnaces in Port Talbot, leading to the loss of up to 2,800 jobs.
The overhaul comes with the European steel industry facing upheaval as it tries to finance less carbon-intensive production.
Tata is seeking to invest £1.25 billion ($1.58 billion), including £500 million in UK government cash, into electric arc furnace technology to try to cut long-term carbon emissions.
The company said it would not now bring forward plans to shut one of furnaces early because of the walk-out threat, and would revert to its initial plan for discussions with unions on “future investments and aspirations for the business”.
The Unite union has called off the strike, bending to intimidation from Tata Steel bosses
Port Talbot is one of the largest steelworks in Britain (Picture: Phil Beard)
Monday 01 July 2024
The Unite union crumbled in the face of bosses’ threats on Monday and called off a strike by 1,500 steel workers in south Wales. The union claimed that Tata Steel company bosses had offered new talks.
But the key issue was that the firm had threatened to start shutting down two blast furnaces immediately at the Port Talbot site unless Unite called off an indefinite strike set to begin at the Port Talbot and Llanwern sites next Monday. Unconvinced by what a new Labour government would do, and unwilling to escalate action, Unite suspended both the strike call and an overtime ban that began in the middle of June.
Disgracefully , the Community union that had not called strikes—despite its members voting for them— revelled in Unite’s backing off. Alun Davies, Community national officer, said, “There are no fresh talks.”
He said the bosses’ letter “simply reaffirms the position agreed by Community, GMB, Unite and the company, at our last meeting of 22 May. “It’s welcome if Unite is re-establishing its commitment to the position it previously agreed.
“This position is that all unions will seek to conclude the negotiations on a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and then put this to their members to decide whether it’s good enough.” Tata has for now achieved its objective of seeking to humiliate and crush resistance to its plans to destroy 2,800 jobs in south Wales.
Jason, an electrical engineer at the Port Talbot hot mill, had earlier told Socialist Worker that Tata’s closure threats were “industrial vandalism”.
“But it’s not really unexpected. “It’s what Tata has been trying to do all along, trying to frighten people,” he said. The BBC reported, “Officials from other unions say that Unite has achieved ‘nothing but chaos and have cost their members money’.”
This is a “reference to an earlier overtime ban that Unite called without the agreement of the other unions,” wrote the BBC.
Unite was absolutely right to schedule the strike. Instead of cancelling it, Unite should have called out steel workers at Port Talbot and Llanwern and made an appeal to the whole working class movement to revolt against intimidation.
It should also have demanded that one of the first actions of a Labour government would be to nationalise steel and guarantee all the jobs. Nationalised Tory prime minister Edward Heath nationalised aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce in a few days in 1971.
Labour has previously urged Tata to reconsider a compromise plan backed by the Community and GMB unions. The plan would retain one of the blast furnaces until the proposed electric arc furnace that is replacing the blast furnaces is operational in 2027.
But that plan won’t save all the jobs at the plant and those at Tata’s contractors. The BBC says, “Union officials acknowledge that there is no guarantee that Tata will agree to extending the life of one furnace beyond its scheduled shutdown in September.”
That is an argument for surrender. The unions must fight for every job.
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