Wednesfield steelworkers to vote on industrial action in response to potential job losses

The union, which has some of its members at Tata's Steelpark at Wednesfield, is balloting members in response to Tata's proposal to remove the UK's virgin steelmaking capacity resulting in the loss of thousands of steel jobs. The bulk of the job losses would be at Port Talbot and Llanwern, with further losses at other Tata Steel sites across the UK.

The ballot will run for a month from April 11.

Other steelworkers have already voted to strike in protest at the planned job.

Unite says around 1,500 of its members based in Port Talbot and Llanwern in South Wales backed industrial action "decisively".

Unite said it will be the first time in more than 40 years that Port Talbot steelworkers go on strike. Dates for strike action scheduled to cause "maximum impact" will be announced soon.

Tata has started the formal consultation process with trade unions over the proposed restructuring of the UK business. It is looking to lay off 19 at the Steelpark site at Wednesfield and one at the rail terminal site at Round Oak, Brierley Hill.

At the Steelpark, where around 400 are based, the axe would fall on 13 shop floor workers, five management and one other post.

The consultation involves up to 2,800 redundancies at Tata Steel across the UK with around 2,500 roles to be impacted in the next 18 months.

Tata Steel is moving from blast furnaces in South Wales to green steelmaking in the UK.

Port Talbot’s two high-emission blast furnaces and coke ovens would close in a phased manner with the first blast furnace closing around mid-2024 and the remaining heavy end assets would wind down during the second half of 2024. The proposal also includes a wider restructuring of other locations and functions across the company.

Community General Secretary Roy Rickhuss said: "We've said it before and we'll say it again: Tata's bad deal for steel would be a hammer blow for our steel industry. It would see vital skilled jobs lost, and dirty steel products imported from overseas. The loss of primary steelmaking capacity would make Britain an outlier on the G20, and would weaken national security in an increasingly uncertain world. That's to say nothing of the devastation that would be wrought on communities built on steel in South Wales and beyond.

"Tata's plan is bad for jobs, bad for the environment and bad for Britain. It's unviable, undeliverable and unacceptable, and our members won't be bullied or intimidated into accepting it.

"Industrial action is always a last resort for any worker, but our members know that we now have to fight to save our industry, and we must every tool at our disposal to apply pressure on Tata to change course. We are urging our members to vote 'yes' and 'yes' for industrial action, and we urge the company to look again at our multi-union plan – a credible alternative to Tata's plan which safeguards primary steelmaking capacity and avoids compulsory redundancies."

Community's national officer for steel Alun Davies added: "Steelworkers now have a chance to be a part of history and to take a stand to protect our vital steel industry. No steel job is safe under Tata’s bad deal for steel, and it’s imperative that we all band together as one at this critical time.

"Future generations will ask what we did in when our jobs and communities were threatened by Tata’s and the Government’s dirty and damaging deal which leaves no steel job safe. We’ll be able to proudly answer them that we did not go gently into the night, that we stood up for our proud industry, and that we took action to forge a future for steel when it mattered most. That's why we are asking our members to vote 'yes' and 'yes' in the ballot."