Thousands of jobs go in steel
Submitted by martin on 17 September, 2024 -
Author: Matt Dunn
https://www.workersliberty.org/
The deep-water harbour at Port Talbot, which served the steelworks, has already closed, on 2 September
Thousands of jobs will go at Tata Steel UK’s Port Talbot plant as its owners shut its last ageing blast furnace this month, September 2024. Thousands more look set to go at British Steel’s Scunthorpe works. The UK will be left with no ability to produce "virgin" steel – needed for industries like construction and vehicle manufacture. A huge economic impact will be meted out to the communities of Scunthorpe and Port Talbot. And we will pay billions.
Despite a high-profile campaign by Unite, with at best mixed support from Community and the GMB, workers at Tata voted with their back pockets. The voluntary redundancy scheme was oversubscribed.
New money was promised by the Labour Government for Port Talbot and the final deal does include talk of future investment in expansion. And it commits Tata to retaining 5,000 jobs in the UK steel sector. The government is promising a steel strategy to be produced in 2025. This is an improvement on the money-for-nothing deal struck by the previous government, but still lacks the clarity needed to give workers confidence.
Tata is a huge, rich corporation, headquartered in Mumbai. The UK Government has subsidised it through "pollution permits" to the tune of £1.4 billion over the last four years, and is now handing over another £500 million. According to the Mirror (Sunday 15 September 2024) Tata bosses, “could be in line for a windfall worth tens of millions of pounds”. If they don’t use their free permits, they can sell them. For a lot of money.
At the same time as they are shutting old, polluting blast furnaces in the UK, Tata is investing in new, greener steel in the Netherlands, and in new dirty steel produced in brand new blast furnaces in India. They are able to do this thanks in no small part to the largesse of the UK taxpayer.
Instead of bankrolling private conglomerates and their wealthy owners, we should demand the public ownership of polluting industries and the planning and financing required for a just transition to new, cleaner, socially useful industry. The voices of workers and affected communities – in industries like steel, oil and gas and automotive – must be at the fore of a worker-led transition.
The deep-water harbour at Port Talbot, which served the steelworks, has already closed, on 2 September
Thousands of jobs will go at Tata Steel UK’s Port Talbot plant as its owners shut its last ageing blast furnace this month, September 2024. Thousands more look set to go at British Steel’s Scunthorpe works. The UK will be left with no ability to produce "virgin" steel – needed for industries like construction and vehicle manufacture. A huge economic impact will be meted out to the communities of Scunthorpe and Port Talbot. And we will pay billions.
Despite a high-profile campaign by Unite, with at best mixed support from Community and the GMB, workers at Tata voted with their back pockets. The voluntary redundancy scheme was oversubscribed.
New money was promised by the Labour Government for Port Talbot and the final deal does include talk of future investment in expansion. And it commits Tata to retaining 5,000 jobs in the UK steel sector. The government is promising a steel strategy to be produced in 2025. This is an improvement on the money-for-nothing deal struck by the previous government, but still lacks the clarity needed to give workers confidence.
Tata is a huge, rich corporation, headquartered in Mumbai. The UK Government has subsidised it through "pollution permits" to the tune of £1.4 billion over the last four years, and is now handing over another £500 million. According to the Mirror (Sunday 15 September 2024) Tata bosses, “could be in line for a windfall worth tens of millions of pounds”. If they don’t use their free permits, they can sell them. For a lot of money.
At the same time as they are shutting old, polluting blast furnaces in the UK, Tata is investing in new, greener steel in the Netherlands, and in new dirty steel produced in brand new blast furnaces in India. They are able to do this thanks in no small part to the largesse of the UK taxpayer.
Instead of bankrolling private conglomerates and their wealthy owners, we should demand the public ownership of polluting industries and the planning and financing required for a just transition to new, cleaner, socially useful industry. The voices of workers and affected communities – in industries like steel, oil and gas and automotive – must be at the fore of a worker-led transition.
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