Strikes called off at Welsh steelworks after owner changed closure date

A planned strike at the Port Talbot steelworks has been suspended after the Unite union said new investment was proposed.

Unite is suspending its industrial action, it said, after the news on Thursday that the Indian conglomerate owner, Tata, would, in response, close the site earlier than first announced.

Talks throughout the weekend yielded a “significant development” in the form of an agreement from Tata to discuss future investment and not just redundancies, the union said.

The closure date is now 7 July, the day before the previously planned strike and roughly two months before the September timeline originally announced to close the final blast furnace in which steel is made.

Up to 2,800 jobs are to be lost – 2,500 in the next year, and a further 300 in three years – despite a £500m taxpayer cash injection to support the site’s transition to cheaper, greener steel production to cut emissions.

The first steel blast furnace was due to close at the end of June in a push to reduce carbon emissions at what is the UK’s single largest source of CO2.

The previous fossil-fuel-powered blast furnaces are being replaced by a single electric arc furnace.

Union response

Unite members were striking in protest against job losses and the effects on the local community.

The early closure decision by Tata was last week described as being the “latest In a long line of threats that won’t deter us” by Unite’s secretary general Sharon Graham.

“The strikes will go on until Tata halts its disastrous plans,” she said on Thursday. An overtime ban had already been in effect from 17 June. But both actions have been suspended now for further talks.

Another union representing Port Talbot steelworkers welcomed Unite’s industrial action pause and the fact it was getting “back around the table with their sister steel unions”.

Alun Davies, the national officer for Community (the steelworkers’ union), said Tata would resume discussions if the strike was called off.

“The truth is Tata never walked away from those discussions, and at our last meeting on 22 May all unions agreed to conclude the negotiations and put the outcome to our members. Community will welcome resuming those discussions, but we regret that zero progress has been made since 22 May.”

Tata has been contacted for comment.