Members of Unite, the workers’ union in Britain, have voted in favour of calling a strike against the closure of blast furnaces by Tata Steel, which will lead to job losses.
Meanwhile, Tata Steel is reportedly upset that the workers have expressed their desire to go for industrial action while discussions are still on. This will be the first time in over four decades that such a strike by workers will take place at the Port Talbot plant.
The company has also written to the Unite Union pointing out irregularities in the ballot process.
As per Unite, about 1500 workers from the steel plants will participate in the strike. The date for the strike has not been announced yet.
It is hoped that the union will give Tata Steel a week’s notice before going on strike.
Early this year, there were reports that at least one third of the workers at Tata Steel’s plant in Wales, UK may be rendered jobless. The Indian steel company was at the time planning to shut down two blast furnaces for good which would make 3,000 jobs at the plant redundant.
These blast furnaces are bad for the environment as they cause a lot of pollution. Therefore, the UK government has been urging steel companies to look at greener alternatives. Last year, as per reports, the UK government granted funds of about $634 million to steel manufacturers to come up with a better technique of steel production that will not harm the environment. The funds, however, could not stop 3000 jobs from becoming redundant. Earlier, 8,000 jobs were to be impacted, but the introduction of an electric furnace had managed to save 5,000 jobs.
