Unite has suspended a strike that was due to begin at Tata Steel’s south Wales operations next week, after the company confirmed it would enter into negotiations.
Members of the union had been due to take part in an indefinite strike over the closure of its blast furnaces at Port Talbot, which Tata Steel said would affect 2,800 jobs. However, last week Tata Steel said it could be forced to close the furnaces earlier if a strike went ahead because of safety.
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Today Unite confirmed it had paused its industrial action in Port Talbot and Newport Llanwern after progress in talks that were held over the weekend.
Unite’s 1,500 members at the sites began an overtime ban and work to rule on 17 June and were due to begin an indefinite strike from 8 July. Both forms of industrial action have been paused.
The union said Tata Steel UK had indicated it was prepared to enter into negotiations about future investment into its South Wales operations, and not just redundancies.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a significant development in the battle to protect jobs and the long-term future of steel making in South Wales. Investment from Labour secured by Unite will be key to the future of the site.
“This breakthrough would not have come about without the courage of our members at Port Talbot and Llanwern who were prepared to stand up and fight for their jobs. Workers were simply not prepared to stand idly by while steelmaking ended and their communities were laid to waste.
“It is essential that these talks progress swiftly and in good faith with the focus on fresh investment and ensuring the long-term continuation of steel making in South Wales.”
A Tata Steel spokesperson said: “We have received written confirmation from Unite union that with immediate effect they are suspending their current action short of a strike as well as the potential strike action due to commence on Monday 8 July.
“As a result, and given we can now be confident of ensuring appropriate resourcing of activities to operate safely, we will halt preparations for the early cessation of operations on Blast Furnace 4 and the wider heavy end in Port Talbot, planned for this week – we welcome the fact that we have avoided having to progress down this path.
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“The wind down process for Blast Furnace 5 has now begun to plan and we expect to produce the final iron at the end of this week.”
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