Why multi-union steel plan is the only viable green option for Tata
As the uncertainty surrounding the future of Tata Steel’s Port Talbot steelworks continues, Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock says it’s time for Tata, the UK Government and steelworkers to all get behind the multi-union deal
THE Port Talbot steelworks is the beating heart of our local economy, providing 4,000 well-paid steel jobs and many thousands more in the local supply chain.
But it is also the backbone of our wider national manufacturing sector that underpins both the Welsh economy and British economy.
We need our steel for everything from the cutlery in our kitchens to the cars that we drive, from new wind turbines that provide energy security to the defence equipment that supports our brave troops. Indeed, the global demand for steel in 2050 will be higher than it is today.
We need our steel now more than ever, for our national security, for good local jobs and for the transition to a greener economy.
And we need all grades of steel to be made here in the UK – otherwise we become reliant on imports controlled by foreign dictators.
That’s why the Tata-Tory “bad deal for steel” is such an affront to all those who understand the steel industry.
The agreement to transition to a greener electric arc furnace-only model – entirely based on recycling scrap – will limit the quality and quantity of steel we can make in Port Talbot.
The deal fails to deliver the supply-chain security Britain needs because it threatens to leave us over-reliant on foreign governments that don’t always have our best interests at heart.
Let’s be clear, Port Talbot steelworkers recognise the need to decarbonise.
Even looking beyond environmental concerns, the global consumer demand for low-carbon “green” steel is growing and Britain’s steelmakers need to keep up with these developing market trends if they wish to compete.
But the Tata-Tory deal is a disaster because it threatens to offshore everything we need: the production of virgin steel, those good steel jobs you can raise a family on, our national security, you name it.
It will also simply shift carbon emissions from one country to another, without sufficiently addressing climate change.
Huge amounts of our steel will be imported from abroad, from less environmentally friendly steelmaking plants and without any benefits to Welsh and British workers. It is a lose-lose.
Worse still, it fails to offer the just transition to green steelmaking that steelworkers were always promised and will instead deliver a potential cliff-edge for workers and their families.
This is because the traditional blast furnaces are set to be turned off very quickly and the job losses are therefore set to be faster and more numerous than necessary.
Decarbonisation must not be achieved through deindustrialisation – but this “bad deal” seems to be trying to do just that.
Further still, it is bad for Tata’s business because scrap metal alone cannot meet the company’s broad range of customer requirements.
This is why the multi-union counter-proposal – which was presented by Community, GMB and Unite to Tata Steel on November 17 – is vital.
The two-phase multi-union plan would protect 2,300 jobs nationwide over a decade and would see no compulsory redundancies at Port Talbot.
Under the multi-union plan, Blast Furnace Number 4 would continue to run until the end of its life cycle in 2032, while one smaller electric arc furnace (EAF) and later a second EAF or open slag bath furnace (OSBF) are constructed.
The plan also recommends the construction of a direct iron reduction (DRI) plant to fully decarbonise steelmaking, and to ensure the UK retains its strategically important capability to produce virgin steel.
The Tata-Tory proposal and the multi-union steel plan are the only plans on the table.
The multi-union committee – led by Community – is the only union body that Tata recognises and it is the official forum for unionemployer negotiations.
Any union bringing forward its own individual plan will not be considered by Tata, and thus – for the sake of steelmaking in South Wales – it is critical that all steel unions get behind the realistic and detailed multi-union proposal.
For this reason I hope that the Unite union – which withdrew its support in favour of an underdeveloped and unrealistic proposal – will recommit to the multi-union plan as rapidly as possible.
The alternative outcome – that Tata uses Unite’s disengagement as an excuse to implement thousands of job cuts – is too painful for my constituents and their families to consider.
This is not the time for posturing, this is the time for doing right by our steelworkers, saving our steel industry and getting it fit for the future.
But most of all it is about putting Welsh steelmakers back at the heart of our nation’s future prosperity, by recognising the contribution they can make to the economy of the future and supporting them to do just that.
Labour has promised a £3bn steel renewal fund to help Britain seize the opportunities of the future.
The Conservative government needs to work with Tata to avoid the “bad deal” cliff-edge that has been agreed, and deliver that smooth transition to green steelmaking that the multi-union plan can deliver.