Community ballots for industrial action at Tata Steel

Community is urging members to take a stand in support of the steel industry as we launches our ballot for industrial action at Tata Steel UK today.

We are balloting members in response to Tata’s bad deal for steel, a proposal which would remove the UK’s virgin steelmaking capacity and result in the loss of thousands of steel jobs. The bulk of the job losses would be at Port Talbot and Llanwern, with further losses at Trostre and other downstream sites across the UK.

Community Union General Secretary Roy Rickhuss said:

“We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Tata’s bad deal for steel would be a hammer blow for our steel industry. It would see vital skilled jobs lost, and dirty steel products imported from overseas. The loss of primary steelmaking capacity would make Britain an outlier on the G20, and would weaken national security in an increasingly uncertain world. That’s to say nothing of the devastation that would be wrought on communities built on steel in South Wales and beyond.

“Tata’s plan is bad for jobs, bad for the environment and bad for Britain. It’s unviable, undeliverable and unacceptable, and our members won’t be bullied or intimidated into accepting it.

“Industrial action is always a last resort for any worker, but our members know that we now have to fight to save our industry, and we must every tool at our disposal to apply pressure on Tata to change course. We are urging our members to vote ‘YES’ and ‘YES’ for industrial action, and we urge the company to look again at our Multi-Union Plan – a credible alternative to Tata’s plan which safeguards primary steelmaking capacity and avoids compulsory redundancies.”

Community’s National Officer for Steel, Alun Davies, said:

“Steelworkers now have a chance to be a part of history and to take a stand to protect our vital steel industry. No steel job is safe under Tata’s bad deal for steel, and it’s imperative that we all band together as one at this critical time.

“Future generations will ask what we did in when our jobs and communities were threatened by Tata’s and the Government’s dirty and damaging deal which leaves no steel job safe. We’ll be able to proudly answer them that we did not go gently into the night, that we stood up for our proud industry, and that we took action to forge a future for steel when it mattered most. That’s why we are asking our members to vote ‘YES’ and ‘YES’ in the ballot which opens today.”

The ballot opens today, 11th April, and will run for a month.

We urge members to vote YES and YES to stop:

• The closure of Blast Furnace 4
• The pausing of steel production for three years
• The building of an untested 3mt Electric Arc Furnace with no secured scrap supply
• The threats and intimidation around voluntary redundancy
• The lack of a growth strategy for Llanwern, which under the current plan will be left to wither away
• The absence of a replacement coil supply for Trostre, which is currently supplied by Port Talbot
• The lack of guarantees of materials to supply all downstream plants

Join the union for steelworkers

Community is the steelworkers’ union. More steelworkers are members of Community than any other union, and we represent the vast majority of workers impacted by Tata’s decarbonisation plans. We have a history dating back over a century, representing members and campaigning to protect Britain’s steel industry. We are a modern trade union, campaigning for a better working world.

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If you are a member of Community and need advice or support, please contact our Service Centre at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.