Blast furnace wind down at Tata Port Talbot to start 'within months'

21 September 2023 , 10:34

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The Mirror understands the blast furnaces could be switched off early next year (Image: PA Archive)

Coking ovens at Britain’s biggest steelworks could be turned off within weeks, sources have told the Mirror.

Up to 3,000 workers at Tata face losing their jobs under plans for the Port Talbot plant to switch from traditional, coal-fired blast furnaces to less-polluting electric arc systems. Crunch talks took place at the South Wales factory yesterday after Tata bosses jetted in from India for a showdown with unions, as exclusively revealed by the Mirror.

It is understood that during the negotiations, workers’ leaders won a concession from the company, with executives agreeing a trade union expert would analyse the firm’s plan, which is based on Tata injecting £725million and taxpayers £500m. But expected redundancies could take place within months, sources said. Previously, it was claimed the transition could take until 2027.

GMB national officer Charlotte Brumpton-Childs said: “Today’s meeting with Tata bosses was the first step in the long process of consulting meaningfully with our members over steel job losses. Tata must be completely open throughout this process and not shut themselves off from solutions which decaronsie steel without redundancies. This deal is not and must not be a fait accompli - workers had a voice.”

Community steelworkers’ union national officer Alun Davies said: “Further to the announcements made last Friday, we met with Tata officials to express our concerns over the future of steel using EAFs (electric arc furnaces) and the potential of 3000 jobs being lost. We made our case that all options should remain on the table to protect Port Talbot and the plants downstream. The company have said they will give full transparency to our specialists Syndex and will give them time to complete their findings.”

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The Mirror has been campaigning to Save Our Steel since 2015.

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Ben Glaze