Strike called off at Tata Steel’s Port Talbot site after talks offer

Workers from Unite have called off strike action at Tata Steel over planned job losses, paving the way for talks with the company over the future of its flagship site in south Wales.

Britain’s biggest steel producer last week threatened to bring forward the closure of its two blast furnaces at Port Talbot to the start of July if Unite members insisted on walking out indefinitely from July 8, with the company citing safety concerns. 

Tata had originally intended to close one of the furnaces by the end of June and the second by September as part of a government-backed plan to move to greener forms of production that would have resulted in up to 2,800 job losses. 

Announcing the strike action would not go ahead, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said on Monday it was “essential” that the talks with the Indian-owned company “progress swiftly and in good faith with the focus on fresh investment”. 

The breakthrough came after Jonathan Reynolds, shadow business secretary, spoke to Unite representatives multiple times over the weekend urging them to call off the planned strike, according to people familiar with the matter.

It also came after Tata on Sunday wrote to all three unions represented at the company offering to begin new talks if the Unite strike was called off. 

Rajesh Nair, chief executive of Tata Steel UK, said in the letter, which was seen by the Financial Times, that the company would “prefer to avoid ceasing operations early and to continue our meetings with all unions to finalise . . . the specific details of future assurances”.

Tata has previously said it would offer enhanced redundancy benefits, as well as investment in skills and training for workers affected by the closure of the blast furnaces, two of Britain’s last remaining such facilities.

The planned stoppage by Unite members had dismayed Community, the steel union, and the GMB union, which feared that it would lead to the second furnace being closed earlier. 

Alun Davies, national officer for Community, said it welcomed Unite’s decision to “withdraw their strike action and get back around the table with their sister steel unions”. 

“The truth is Tata never walked away from those discussions, and at our last meeting on May 22 all unions agreed to conclude the negotiations and put the outcome to our members,” he added. 

Unions hope that if Labour wins the general election on Thursday, as polls are predicting, the party may still be able to persuade Tata to reconsider retaining one of the furnaces until a less carbon-intensive electric arc furnace is built. 

The older furnace will be shut down this week as previously planned.

Tata agreed a £500mn support package with the Conservative government last September to move to greener forms of steelmaking. As part of the deal, which has not yet been signed, Tata said it would invest £750mn. 

Labour has promised to secure a better deal if it wins power, although Tata has consistently rejected keeping the second blast furnace open for longer, arguing that doing so would be neither feasible operationally nor affordable.

But people familiar with the situation said the company may promise to invest in new processing facilities if a Labour government offered more investment.

Tata confirmed that following Unite’s “written confirmation” that the union had called off the strike, the company would “halt preparations for the early cessation of operations” on blast furnace 4 and its associated facilities.

The resumption of talks with the three unions would focus on “future investments and aspirations for the business” but would not be a “renegotiation of our existing plan for the heavy-end closure [of the blast furnaces and other facilities that support iron and steelmaking] or the enhanced employment support terms”, the company added.

Labour was contacted for comment.