Welsh steel workers suspend general strike plan

Indian company Tata Steel plans to lay off 2,800 employees

Tata Steel workers in the UK yesterday suspended a planned general strike and overtime ban, after the company warned it would bring forward the planned closure of two blast furnaces in the country if the strike went ahead.

Workers at the Port Talbot and Llanwern plants in Wales, represented by the Unite trade union, are in dispute with the Indian company Tata Steel over the decision to close blast furnaces and lay off 2,800 workers.

Around 1,500 employees of the plants, where the ban on overtime work has been in force since 17 June, were also to go on an indefinite strike on 8 July.

However, the union said it had suspended the industrial action after the company confirmed it was ready to start talks on “future investment in the company’s operations, not just layoffs”.

“This is a significant development in the fight to protect jobs,” said Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary. “It is essential that these talks progress quickly and in good faith, with a strong focus on new investment.”

A company spokesman welcomed the trade union’s decision to suspend the strike.

“Given that we can now be confident that we will provide adequate resources to carry out operations safely, we will pause preparations for the early closure of Blast Furnace No. 4 and the wider heavy end at Port Talbot,” they said.

The resumption of talks “will focus on the future investments and aspirations of the company, rather than renegotiating our current heavy facility closure plan,” the spokesman added.

The company, which employs more than 8,000 people in the UK, previously said its steel assets were reaching the end of their life cycle, were operationally unstable and were causing unsustainable losses of £1m.