Yahoo Finance Tata: Unite suspends overtime ban and all-out strike at steel giant
Unite has suspended an overtime ban and a planned all-out strike at steel giant Tata over job losses, the union announced.
Members of Unite have been taking industrial action such as banning overtime and were due to stage an all-out strike from next Monday.
The union is embroiled in a dispute with the company over plans to close the two blast furnaces at its plant in Port Talbot, south Wales and switch to a greener way of steel production, which needs fewer workers.
The union said the current industrial action and next week’s strike had been suspended.
Community and the GMB unions are also calling for Tata to change its plans but have not called for industrial action.
The first blast furnace is due to be shut down on Thursday and the second at the end of September.
Alun Davies, national officer for community the steelworkers’ union, said: “With thousands of jobs at stake, we welcome Unite’s decision to withdraw their strike action and get back around the table with their sister steel unions.
“Tata confirmed that if the strike was called off they are ready to resume discussions on a potential MOU, through the Multi-Union Steel Committee which is chaired by Community.
“The truth is Tata never walked away from those discussions, and at our last meeting on 22 May all unions agreed to conclude the negotiations and put the outcome to our members.
“Community will welcome resuming those discussions, but we regret that zero progress has been made since 22 May.”
The announcement comes after it was revealed that Tata Steel faces a £500m hit over its decision to close Port Talbot steel works months earlier than planned as company bosses and trade union officials pushed for a last-minute deal.
The company enraged unions last week after it revealed plans to bring forward the closure of its blast furnaces in south Wales from September due to strikes.
It has now pushed back plans to make a final decision on the future of the works, The Sunday Times reported, after agreeing further talks with the Unite Union. It had initially planned to make a final call on Sunday.
Unite had called indefinite industrial action beginning on July 9, a move which created a split between the two other unions at the plant, Community and GMB, both of which had pledged to avoid calling strikes.
Unite says its plans to end steel production at Port Talbot will results in the loss of 2,800 jobs. It is urging Tata to wait until a change of government before making any “irreversible decisions.”
