The owner of Port Talbot steelworks has today warned sites could be shut without subsidies for reducing carbon emissions. The UK’s biggest steelworks, in Port Talbot, employs 4,000 people.
A spokesperson for Community, the steelworkers’ union and the largest trade union at Tata Steel, said:
“This intervention from Tata is shocking, and has been made without any consultation with the trade unions. For months we’ve been in discussions with the company, but we should be clear there is no agreement on the decarbonisation roadmap.
The unions have been working with our experts exploring low carbon options that will protect our country’s steelmaking capacity, jobs and communities. That process is unfinished, but Tata’s comments make a mockery of the company’s commitments to an open and transparent dialogue with the unions.
Tata and the Government must do whatever it takes to secure the future of steelmaking at Port Talbot, and work with the trade unions to safeguard our vital strategic industry. Steelworkers will feel badly let down by Tata, and the company must live up to their moral and social responsibilities to the workforce.”
If you are a member of Community and need help or advice, please contact us at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.