Tata rejects plea to keep Port Talbot blast furnace

Tata Steel has rejected a union plan to keep one blast furnace running at Britain’s largest steelworks in Port Talbot as it transitions to greener steel production.

The company’s CEO and managing director TV Narendran said the unions’ proposal was not “financially or operationally viable”.

About 2,800 jobs are likely to move into Tata’s UK operations, the majority of which will be in Port Talbot.

Steel unions have condemned the decision and threatened industrial action.

Tata and the unions have been in talks for seven months after the company said it wanted to end blast furnace iron production in South Wales this year.

The company currently has 4,000 employees in Port Talbot and will begin a voluntary redundancy process in May.

The company plans to build a £1.25 billion electric arc furnace to produce steel in a way that is less polluting than traditional blast furnaces but requires fewer workers.

Tata said this move would secure the future of steel production at the site and the UK government would contribute £500 million towards the cost of the project.

The Community Language Union called Tata’s decision “a serious mistake” and is currently voting its members into industrial action.

The Unite union already has a mandate for action and has warned that strike action ‘will be announced shortly’.

Matthew Hill, an organizer at Unite, said earlier on Thursday that colleagues were “appalled and angry” at Tata’s decision to go ahead with his plans.

Responding to Tata Steel’s threat to withdraw “enhanced” redundancy packages if workers went ahead with industrial action in May, he said members would “not be bullied” by the company.

Tata Steel said the investment in the new electric arc furnace will safeguard 5,000 jobs in the UK and represents “the largest investment in the UK steel industry in decades”.

The company said its UK operations are currently loss-making and that the unions’ alternative plan “would cost the company at least an additional £1.6 billion”.

But Community’s Roy Rickhauss has disputed that view, saying: “We don’t accept the company’s claim that our plan was too expensive – in fact, it would have returned profits to the company.”

Prime Minister Vaughan Gething and Energy and Economy Secretary Jeremy Miles said in a joint statement that the Welsh Government would continue to advocate for a “fairer transition” for workers.

“Quality steel, made in Wales, provides the economic foundation for many communities across Wales and is vital to Britain’s economy and security,” they said.

Shadow Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens described the outcome of the consultation as a “total blow to the people of Port Talbot, and the potential economic impact will reverberate across South Wales for years to come”.