20 January 2024 , 21:06
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A Tata Steel boss overseeing 2,800 UK job losses trousered £1.6million last year after a £700,000 pay rise.
Accounts do not name the chief but the top earner is believed to be Dr Henrik Adam, 59, chairman of the Indian-owned steel giant’s UK arm. The massive rise comes despite Tata making annual losses of £674million across British and Dutch operations.
Last week, the company announced plans to cut jobs and close both blast furnaces in Port Talbot, south Wales. Around 2,500 of the jobs will be lost in the next 18 months, with most losses expected in Port Talbot.
The GMB union said: “These grotesque pay packets in the face of thousands of redundancies show this is a political decision, not an economic one.”
Tata's Port Talbot steelworks (Getty Images)Unite chief Sharon Graham added: “Our politicians are being played by Tata. It is taking Government money to close down our steel industry so we can import steel from India in this case. Unite is going to fight these closurest.”
Fears for 800 British Steel jobs amid siren warnings for industry's future
Tata has confirmed it will close its Welsh furnaces and replace them with a greener £1.25bn electric arc furnace, which produces less CO2 but requires fewer workers. It said it was “financially unaffordable” to keep the furnaces open during the transition.
But the GMB said there was a multi-union plan to decarbonise steel economically without compulsory redundancies, adding: “Tata and the UK Government need to explain why they’re not pursuing that plan.”
As the firm is not publicly listed after being bought by India’s Tata Steel in 2007, it does not have to identify its highest-paid director. But it is understood to be Dr Adam, who has spoken of the need to move to “green steel” leaving the sector at a “crossroads”.
He told The Times last year: “Down one path lies the slow decline of steelmaking, with plants becoming obsolete. This would lead to the loss of the UK’s self-sufficiency and resilience in steel, as well as thousands of jobs.”
A company spokesman said: “We will not comment on the personal details of individuals.”