Tata Steel job cuts: Media ‘doom and gloom not helpful’

THE Government is set to come under fresh pressure to help the steel industry as workers are braced for more job losses.

Sheffield Forgemasters’ decision comes days after Tata Steel UK announced more than 1,000 job cuts in the Welsh town of Port Talbot, the UK’s biggest steelworks, to try to stem losses of about £1m a week.

Tata made no comment but it is understood that an announcement was imminent, with the majority of job cuts expected to be at Port Talbot, which employs morwe than 4,000 workers. There is no time to be lost and the task force will meet for the first time on Wednesday to draw up an action plan to support the workforce and the local supply chain.

The proposed changes follow continued falls in the European steel price caused by a flood of cheap imports, particularly from China, the company said. We have offered our support to the chair of the taskforce, Edwina Hart, and we will continue to work with the Welsh government.

“The government says that they are doing everything they can to help it but their actions and their words don’t really fit together”, he said. The government have been working closely with Tata to do all we can to ensure a sustainable future for Tata Steel in the United Kingdom, both at Port Talbot and at Scunthorpe. We know, for example, that the price of slab has nearly halved over the past 12 months, and that Tata has been losing £1 million a day as a result of the slump in prices.

“The European Union must also step up to the plate, take a strong line with China and expedite the investigations into “dumping” activities – a point I made today on the floor of the House of Commons”.

“Workers at the Port Talbot plant are obviously anxious about job losses, although they have known for several years that the situation was worsening”, he said. Even now, promised compensation for energy intensive industries is yet to be received.

“The Government has taken clear action to help the industry, through cutting energy costs, taking action on imports, government procurement and European Union emissions regulations, meeting key steel industry asks”.

“It’s similar to what happened in the 1980s here and that could occur in Port Talbot”.

LIKE A punch-drunk boxer, the steel industry in South Yorkshire remains on its feet today, if rather unsteadily and with diminished certainty in its ability to go the distance. Although we are involved in the taskforce, there are pieces of information we are not privy to as it may be there is due diligence between Tata Steel, the government and Scottish Enterprise.

But unions believe more should be done and will use any announcement from Tata as proof that further action is needed. I have heard it said that the government have blocked the reform of trade defence investigation, but they have not.

First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones said: “Our first thoughts today are with the families, communities and supply chain businesses dependent on steel production at Port Talbot, Llanwern and Trostre”.

“You can’t wring your hands over steel job losses and then shake hands with the Chinese government over cosy trade deals”.

“The Welsh Government will do everything we can but the fundamental questions facing steel production in Wales go far beyond our devolved responsibilities”.