‘Speculation and fears’

The future of the UK’s largest steelworks hangs in the balance, as Tata Steel holds a crucial board meeting in Mumbai today (March 29) over its turnaround plan for its Port Talbot plant.

Board members will vote on whether or not to approve a restructuring plan that aims to turn the Tata site in South Wales from a plant that’s losing £200m a year to one that’s profitable in two years’ time.

The proposed rescue plan entails cost savings of ÂŁ350m, which will be partly achieved by the 750 redundancies announced in January, along with additional investment from the company.

Unions and steel workers fear that the board may vote against the rescue plan currently on the table and may decide to close the plant instead.

Another possibility is that board members will only approve financing for one year instead of two, which would drastically shorten the timeframe the plant is given to achieve a turnaround and become profitable.

Many fear this feat would be all but impossible and could mean thousands of jobs and Wales’ economic future would be under threat.

Despite the uncertainty hanging over Port Talbot, Unite national officer Harish Patel was confident that Port Talbot steelworks still had a viable, long-term future if it’s supported by both Tata and the UK government.

“These are deeply uncertain times for steelworkers and their communities,” he said. “Our members should be in no doubt that Unite is fighting every step of the way to secure their livelihoods and the future of steelmaking in Wales and the rest of the UK.

Back investment call

“We are very confident that Port Talbot can have a future, can continue to contribute to our national wealth,” he added. “Independent analysis by Syndex shows that Tata’s own transformation plan will return the Port Talbot plant to a competitive footing, but it is clear that the UK government needs to play an active role in backing investment to secure the plant’s future for generations to come.”

“We would urge the UK government to take a more interventionist approach in securing the future of Port Talbot and steelmaking across the UK,” Patel went on to say. “The Scottish government did so last week and secured the future of two steel plants in Lanarkshire.

Metals firm Liberty House signed a deal to buy the Clydebridge and Dalzell steel works from Tata Steel and urged UK minsters to look at Scotland’s interventionist approach to secure the British steel industry’s future.

“The UK government must learn for the Scottish government and avoid another Redcar, where leaving it too long saw a national asset closed,” Patel argued. “Ministers need to rule nothing out in supporting a key foundation industry, including temporary nationalisation should the need arise.”

Unite Wales secretary Andy Richards urged the Tata board to “show some steel and commit to steelmaking in Port Talbot and the UK for the long term”.

“Port Talbot is an integral part of the Welsh economy, supporting jobs in the local community and throughout the manufacturing supply chain,” he said.

‘Closure would devastate’

“Port Talbot’s closure would devastate the Welsh economy,” Richards added. “We urge the Tory government in Westminster to put aside political game playing and work with Unite and the Welsh Assembly government to save our steel.”

Mark Turner, Tata Port Talbot’s Unite branch secretary described the mood hanging over the steelworks and its community as the board meets to decide its future today.

“Port Talbot is a sad place to be right now,” he said. “There are TV cameras and radio crew outside and the plant was breakfast news headlines. But inside the plant it is speculation and fears. No one really knows what is going on.

“Then there are the people who have been made redundant in the middle of all of that. From people just out of their apprenticeships right through to people who have been here for years,” said Mark.

“Right now the workforce is demoralised. We are unsure of our futures as uncertainty hangs over Port Talbot,” he added.

“My worst fears are that there will be no announcement. That they will just tell us to continue as we are going month by month and see how things pan out. We just want to know one way or another what our futures are,” he said.

“I remain hopeful though because I know we have one of the best steel plants in the world full of some of the best steelworkers in the world. We are proud British steelworkers and we want to continue to be proud British steelworkers,” he added.

Also under discussion today is plans to sell Tata’s Scunthorpe long products plant to Greybull Capital. An announcement on this decision is expected on Thursday (March 31).