15 September 2023 , 08:27
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Unions are braced for thousands of job losses at Britain’s biggest steelworks to be announced on Friday morning.
Multiple sources told the Mirror an announcement is due on the future of Tata’s Port Talbot plant. The Government is expected to pump £500million of taxpayers’ cash into the site to help the company switch from blast furnaces to less polluting electric arc furnaces (EAF). Indian-owned Tata is poised to pump in another £700million, under an agreement that has taken months of negotiations.
Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Welsh Secretary David TC Davies are expected to visit the South Wales site today to trumpet the deal. The Mirror understands at least 2,000 jobs are set to go at Port Talbot, in a devastating blow to the local economy. A Government source said tonight: “The blast furnaces are ready to run down and if we didn’t step in it would be 8,000 job losses - that shows what the alternative is to what we are doing.”
But an industry source warned said: “Any compulsory redundancies at Port Talbot would be a disgrace - instead of training skilled steelworkers to move to carbon neutral steel making they are tossing them on the scrapheap.” Another source warned: “Unions are furious at the lack of consultation on EAF.”
Community steelworkers’ union assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid said the uncertainty was “extremely concerning and steelworkers want to know what the future holds for their families and their communities”. He added: “The unions have not agreed to any decarbonisation roadmap and as Tata knows we do not support a move to electric arc furnace-only steelmaking at Port Talbot. What must happen now is a comprehensive and meaningful consultation process starting from the point that all low-carbon steelmaking options are on the table. Community Union will do whatever is necessary to protect our members’ jobs, to safeguard the future of every UK plant and to secure a long-term sustainable future for UK steelmaking.”
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Port Talbot steelworks is Britain's biggest (WalesOnline/Rob Browne)Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was due to hold talks with Tata bosses at the site today, but the Mirror understands he was not allowed in. Industry insiders have repeatedly admitted that electric arc production needed fewer staff and posts would go.
They hope to avoid compulsory redundancies through workers taking early retirement or voluntary redundancy. Earlier, union leaders warned Rishi Sunak they would use “all means” to protect steelworkers’ jobs. Community general secretary Roy Rickhuss and GMB leader Gary Smith wrote to the Prime Minister about the uncertainty gripping the plant.
In their letter to the Prime Minister, seen by the Mirror, the union leaders called for Mr Sunak’s “support as we fight to secure a green steel strategy that will deliver a just transition for the workforce”. They added: “We must stress that our trade unions do not support the UK transitioning to an electric arc furnace-only steelmaking model and, concerningly, there has been no consultation on these reported proposals.
“It is not technologically possible to make all the grades of steel using electric arc furnaces that we currently make through blast furnaces. Therefore, such a strategy would be absolutely devastating for steelworkers as electric arc furnace steelmaking supports only a tiny fraction of the jobs required to make steel through the traditional blast furnace route, and it would result in plant closures and the UK becoming reliant on other countries for the production of virgin steel.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This Government could make us the green steel capital of Europe; instead they are choosing to follow a job cuts agenda. Unite will leave no stone unturned in the fight for jobs.” She vowed to mount “a significant campaign on this issue”.
Britain’s £2.9billion steel sector directly employs 39,800 workers and supports another 50,000 in supply chains and local communities, according to latest figures from trade body UK Steel. The PM last week insisted steel is “absolutely vital to the UK”. He added: “We share the ambition of securing a decarbonised, sustainable and competitive future for the industry in this country.”
The Mirror has been campaigning to Save Our Steel since 2015.
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