Tata job losses ‘may only be half the 1,000 feared’
JOB losses at Tata’s UK sites are understood to be less severe than first thought. Back in November it was announced that up to 1,000 jobs in the UK were among 3,000 expected to be cut by Tata Steel across its European operations.
Now it’s understood that that figure has been halved to around 500 after Tata Steel Europe’s chief executive, Henrik Adam, informed members of staff that job losses across Europe had been minimised to 1,250 from 3,000.
In a letter sent out to staff on Monday, Mr Adam said: “The proposed plans aim to secure the future of our company and do what’s best for our employees given the very challenging circumstances we’re currently facing.
“We have identified a range of measures, including not replacing employees who have retired or left the business, which would minimise job losses within the current workforce to 1,250 across the European business.
“Arrangements will be made to commence consultations for the start of April on the proposed organisational changes with the relevant national employee representatives.”
Despite this, Mr Adam referred to Tata’s financial situation as “serious” and said there was an “urgent priority to improve the performance of the business and our cash position”.
Mr Adam explained that the transformation was about “securing the future of our business for generations of steelmakers to come”.
Tata Steel employs around 4,000 people at its steel-making plant in Port Talbot.