Thousands of steel jobs at risk from net zero plans
Coal-fired blast furnaces at Tata’s Port Talbot plant to be replaced with cleaner electric arc technology
BRITAIN’S largest steelworks is expected to announce up to 3,000 job cuts as it presses ahead with net zero plans to close its blast furnaces.
Tata Steel yesterday rejected union proposals that would have safeguarded thousands of jobs at its Port Talbot mill in South Wales.
The UK steel giant, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Group, will instead proceed with its taxpayerfunded plan to replace traditional blast furnaces with greener, less labourintensive technology. Thousands of jobs are expected to be lost in the shift.
Tata has argued that the installation of new electric arc furnaces are necessary for Britain to hit its net zero targets.
However, union leaders suggested this was nothing more than a smokescreen to cut jobs.
The GMB trade union claimed Tata’s plan may actually create more carbon emissions and be worse for the environment as it would leave Britain reliant on imported steel in some instances.
Charlotte Brumpton-childs, national officer at the GMB, said: “The multiunion plan presented to Tata does decarbonise the steel industry and deliver a green transition, but in a realistic and measured way, without painful compulsory redundancies.
“Tata’s plan as it stands could actually increase carbon emissions – at least in the short term. Importing steel from halfway across the world will only make emissions worse, while sacrificing thousands of jobs and livelihoods. It is the worst of both worlds.”
Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, home of the steelworks, agreed that Tata’s net zero plan left the UK more dependent on steel imports.
He said: “Global demand for steel is actually growing, but by pursuing a narrow electric arc furnace-only model, Tata Steel will be unable to seize the commercial opportunities of the future, while at the same time leaving Britain more dependent on imported steel from countries whose governments won’t always have Britain’s best interests at heart.”
Discussions between Tata executives and union chiefs were held in London yesterday, led by the company’s finance chief Koushik Chatterjee.
Union bosses set out an alternative decarbonisation strategy for Tata Steel at the meeting. However, Tata is understood to have rejected the proposals.
The steelmaker will instead press ahead with plans to decarbonise its operations at Port Talbot, which is the UK’S single largest carbon emitter, by replacing its two coal-fired blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
In a small concession, Tata has accepted a union plea to keep Port Talbot’s hot strip mill open during the transition period, a move expected to support hundreds of jobs. At present, the steelworks employs 4,000, which is around half of Tata Steel’s UK workforce. An estimated 3,000 jobs will be lost in the shift to electric arc furnaces.
In September, the Government agreed a £500m subsidy for Tata Steel to help fund the transition to furnaces that can run on zero-carbon electricity at Port Talbot.
Tata Steel is expected to make an official announcement today. Redundancies are also expected at Tata operations in Corby, Hartlepool, Wolverhampton, Shotton, Trostre and Llanwern.
A Tata Steel spokesman said: “We have been engaging regularly and constructively with our trades union colleagues and their advisers for some time about the best way forward to create a sustainable green steel future for Tata Steel in the UK. When we have any formal announcement to make about our proposals for the future, we will always share these with our employees first.”
A spokesman for the Prime Minister declined to comment on “speculation in relation to commercial matters”.
£500m Subsidy agreed by the Government in September for Tata Steel to help fund the transition to greener furnaces