Following on from the £500m decarbonization support package awarded to Tata Steel’s Port Talbot steelworks, sources have confirmed that the 3000 job losses resulting from the shifting labour demands of greener production will take place over ‘months, rather than years’ as stated in a company meeting last week.

According to a report in The Guardian, on 20 September, three Tata executives –Koushik Chatterjee, the chief financial officer; Rajesh Nair, the chief executive of UK operations, and Raghav Sud, the chief of financial strategy and governance – met representatives from the Unite, GMB and Community unions at St James’s Court hotel, which is owned by the conglomerate.

Sources said Tata had agreed to allow the unions to analyse its plans for the steelworks, and that the coke ovens at Port Talbot could close as soon as January.

“[The] meeting with Tata bosses was the first step in the long process of consulting meaningfully with our members over steel job losses.''

Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, a GMB national officer

Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, a GMB national officer, said: “[The] meeting with Tata bosses was the first step in the long process of consulting meaningfully with our members over steel job losses. Tata must be completely open throughout this process and not shut themselves off from solutions which decarbonize steel without redundancies. This deal is not and must not be a fait accompli – workers had a voice.”

''We want to work with Tata and the government to deliver a decarbonization strategy that respects our red lines and crucially protects our members’ jobs through ensuring a just green transition.''

Spokesperson for the Community union

A spokesperson for the Community union said: “Last week’s announcement was a bad deal for our steel industry. We want to work with Tata and the government to deliver a decarbonization strategy that respects our red lines and crucially protects our members’ jobs through ensuring a just green transition. There will be a series of consultation meetings, and we will be clear to Tata that we will do whatever it takes to protect our members’ interests.”

''The problem we are trying to solve is how do we make sure we don’t create a catastrophe in Port Talbot where everybody loses their jobs?''

Kemi Badenoch, UK business secretary

UK business secretary, Kemi Badenoch also commented on the balance between governmental decarbonization ambitions and job security: “The problem we are trying to solve is how do we make sure we don’t create a catastrophe in Port Talbot where everybody loses their jobs? That includes not just the 8,000 people that work for Tata but the rest of the supply chain. How do we regenerate the area? How do we make sure that we’re hitting carbon emissions? And this deal was the one that ticked all those boxes.”

The subsidy Badenoch is referring to is still believed to risk thousands of job losses due to the labour requirements of decarbonized steel production versus traditional blast furnaces, as well as products along the supply chain that will no longer be required.

Source: The Guardian