'Extremely disappointed and angry' union leader blasts Port Talbot steel deal
A furious steel union leader today blasted the Government and Tata over a deal set to trigger thousands of job losses.
The Mirror exclusively revealed yesterday how an announcement is due this morning on the future of the Port Talbot plant in South Wales. Ministers and company chiefs are expected to confirm a plan to switch from coal-fired blast furnaces to less polluting electric arc production.
However, unions are braced for the £500million taxpayer support for the site - which employs about 4,000 people - to lead to at least 2,000 job cuts because the cleaner process requires far fewer staff. Community steelworkers’ union assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid today hit out at the pact. Quite frankly we are extremely disappointed and angry actually about the actions of Tata here,” he told the BBC. They gave us assurances at the highest levels that their discussions with the Government would be confined to their joint financial commitment to support Port Talbot and that any and all decisions on investment and the deployment of whatever technology it may be would be made in partnership with the unions.
Community assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid (Community union)“From what we are hearing it does seem that Tata and the Government have done their deal based on a commitment to go down the EAF (electric arc furnace) only route while sacrificing thousands of jobs. That, for us, is completely unacceptable. It’s not the way the companies or the Government should be doing their business. Unions should have a seat at the table throughout the process as it's clear the interests of the workforce have been overlooked in the rush to sign off a deal to do decarbonisation on the cheap.”
He called on ministers and Tata bosses to investigate using hydrogen technology, warning unions “do not support” electric arc-only production. “We know that there are other, better strategies that can be followed out there, in particular a gradual move towards hydrogen steelmaking," he said. “There’s no doubt our industry needs serious investment to decarbonise and be sustainable over the long term.” He accused Tata of the Tories of focusing on “rushing through the cheapest and easiest deal rather than the best deal for our industry, for the workforce and for the country”.
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Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford admitted: "It's going be an anxious morning for many, many families in Port Talbot. "
He added: "On the one hand there does appear to be significant investment in the plant, which could secure the long term future of many jobs.
“But if the cost of that is losing 3,000 jobs, that will be an enormous blow in the short run in that community. Lots will depend on discussions with the trade unions to see how that figure can be reduced and a great deal depends on the period over the transition from current steelmaking practices to the new electric arc. Doing this over a planned period could be manageable - doing it in a rush would be very difficult.”
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