Early shutdown at Tata Steel's Port Talbot plant amid Unite strike and safety concerns

Tata is to take steps to cease operations at its steel plant in Port Talbot earlier than planned because of a strike by Unite, workers have been told. The company had been planning to shut down one of the blast furnaces by the end of June and the second one by September.

But workers at the site have been told that because of the strike from July 8, it could not guarantee operations would be "safe and stable". A letter to staff says they will begin preparing to close both furnaces on July 1 with both being closed by July 7.

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The closure of blast furnace 4 in June would not have triggered the mass redundancies, that would come with the closure of blast furnace 5 in September. However, this action would accelerate all direct, and indirect job losses. The closure of the furnaces will impact 1,900 staff at Port Talbot and more at other Tata sites. The exact number of indirect job losses is not known but is expected to be many more thousands.

The Indian steel giant says the Port Talbot site is losing £1m a day and will close the blast furnaces and heavy end, replacing them with a greener electric arc furnace. The UK Conservative Government has agreed a £500m grant which is says was the only way to secure any jobs at the site, although Labour opposes the proposal. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.

Three unions represent workers at the site; Unite, GMB and Community. All have balloted staff over strike action but Community and GMB, have decided not to schedule any industrial action before the general election has taken place. Tata has launched legal action against Unite's ballot.

A letter to staff from chief executive officer, Rajesh Nair, reads: "These would be regrettable actions and would have major implications for our company."

"Let me assure you that we do not contemplate this step lightly and it is driven above all by our commitment to safe operations. I also understand that this outcome would bring further uncertainty for those directly impacted, but the safety of those who work on our sites will always take priority. It would not be our preferred way forward but, given the current situation, it would be the only responsible way forward if we have to continue along this path."

A Tata Steel spokesman said: "Following the announcement by Unite Union to unilaterally call strike action from 8 July, Tata Steel is unfortunately forced to commence legal action to challenge the validity of Unite's ballot."

"In the coming days, if we cannot be certain that we are able to continue to safely operate our assets in a stable fashion through the period of strike action, we will not have any choice but to pause or stop heavy end operations (including both blast furnaces) on the Port Talbot site."

"That is not a decision we would take lightly, and we recognise that it would prove extremely costly and disruptive throughout the supply chain, but the safety of people on or around our sites will always take priority over everything else."

"The company again calls for Unite to withdraw its industrial action and join Community and GMB unions in giving consideration to the company's proposed memorandum of understanding, which puts forward a wide-ranging proposal including generous employee support packages, training and skills development."

"We understand the impact of our restructuring will have on many employees and contractors, but we remain committed to a just transition and - pending a Government-backed grant funding agreement - to the £1.25 billion investment in low-CO2 steelmaking, which will ensure Tata Steel has a long and sustainable future in the UK."

Unite however is defiant and said the threat "won't deter us". Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Tata putting out a statement to shut or pause its blast furnaces three months earlier than they intended to is the latest In a long line of threats that won't deter us."

"The Unite campaign is not about selling jobs, it's about securing the long-term future of steel making in this country for thousands of workers in Port Talbot and South Wales."

"We call on the real decision makers in Mumbai to take hold of this dispute, sit down, negotiate and realise that the investment secured will be good for the company and workers."

'Huge anxiety'

First Minister Vaughan Gething and Welsh economy minister Jeremy Miles MS released a statement which said: "The news that Tata could switch off Blast Furnaces 4 and 5 at Port Talbot next week is extraordinary and will cause huge anxiety for the workforce, their families and the community."

"The Welsh Government cannot and will not support the closure of both blast furnaces. As we have said many times, the company should wait for the outcome of next week's General Election before taking irreversible decisions. Acting whilst the nation goes to the polls does not help to deescalate matters."

"The cabinet secretary for economy, energy and Welsh language held talks with the company earlier today. Urgent and good faith negotiations are now required to ensure safety at the site and avoid an outcome that would have such a severe and lasting impact on Port Talbot, Wales and the UK."

The full text of the letter to staff at Tata UK from chief executive officer, Rajesh Nair

"As you know, the safety of those who work on our sites is of paramount importance it comes before everything else."

"In my last communication (21 June) I explained that if we cannot be assured that we can maintain safe and stable operations, due to uncertainty about sufficient skilled resources being available and the impact of any further industrial action, we would have to consider safely pausing or stopping operations in the areas affected. And this would include the potential winding down of heavy end assets earlier than planned if necessary."

"Our previous plans for cessation of heavy end operations (Blast Furnace 5 around the end of this month and Blast Furnace 4, including the wider heavy end, by the end September) assumed the continued availability of essential skills and resources sufficient to maintain safe operations until September."

"Since then, we have reviewed the operational situation in parallel with commencing legal action to challenge the validity of Unite's ballot."

"Unfortunately, the proposed strike action by Unite from Monday 8 July means we can no longer be assured of sufficient resources being available to ensure safe and stable operations. Therefore, we are left with no alternative but to take preparatory steps to cease operations on both Blast Furnaces (including the wider heavy end assets) and safely isolate them no later than Sunday 7 July 2024."

"This means we will need to begin our preparatory actions from Monday 1 July with the expectation that all heavy end operations would cease by Friday 5 July."

"These would be regrettable actions and would have major implications for our company."

"Let me assure you that we do not contemplate this step lightly and it is driven above all by our commitment to safe operations. I also understand that this outcome would bring further uncertainty for those directly impacted, but the safety of those who work on our sites will always take priority. It would not be our preferred way forward but, given the current situation, it would be the only responsible way forward if we have to continue along this path."

"We have proposed to Unite a set of outline derogations from the strike action to explore whether minimum levels of service and support could be maintained to enable the ironmaking, steelmaking and casting operations to continue to operate safely. This is to ensure the safety and integrity of the heavy end assets and processes and safety of our people. For all other areas/activity across Port Talbot and Llanwern, the proposed derogations are to allow for safety checks, inspections and maintenance, as, unlike the heavy-end, our mills can be more safely idled for a period of time. As of today, we do not have an agreement on this but we have reached the point where we now have to take the preparatory steps I outlined above to ensure the safety of the site prior to any strike action by Unite commencing Monday 8 July."

"In the meantime, we will continue to challenge the validity of Unite's ballot and review how we can reduce the potential impact on our downstream operations."

"I will keep you updated as we move forward."