Tata Steel Seeks Legal Action In Tussle With Union Over UK Plant
(Bloomberg) -- Tata Steel Ltd. has raised the ante in its tussle with UK's labor union over its decision to close blast furnaces in the Welsh town of Port Talbot by threatening legal action.
“Following the announcement by Unite Union to unilaterally call strike action from 8 July, Tata Steel is unfortunately forced to commence legal action to challenge the validity of Unite's ballot,” a spokesperson for the Indian steelmaker said in an emailed statement.
Britain's Unite union on June 21 said around 1,500 workers based in the towns of Port Talbot and Llanwern will strike indefinitely starting July 8 to protest the 2,800 jobs that would be lost following the closure of the furnaces.
Read: Tata Steel UK Workers Call Indefinite Strike Over Job Cuts
The company will “not have any choice but to pause or stop heavy end operations” - including both blast furnaces - on the Port Talbot site in the coming days, if it cannot be certain that it can “continue to safely and stably operate” through the period of strike action.
Tata Steel is one of Britain's biggest steelmakers. In April, the company said it would proceed with a ÂŁ1.25 billion ($1.6 billion) plan to build an electric arc furnace at Port Talbot and start closing existing heavy-end assets.
“That is not a decision we would take lightly, and we recognize that it would prove extremely costly and disruptive throughout the supply chain,” Tata said in the statement.
The union, on its part, is undeterred in its objective, calling the strike action about “securing the long-term future of steel making” in the UK.
“Tata putting out a statement to shut or pause its blast furnaces three months earlier than they intended to is the latest In a long line of threats that won't deter us,” Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said in a statement.
“We call on the real decision makers in Mumbai to take hold of this dispute, sit down, negotiate and realise that the investment secured will be good for the company and workers,” Graham said, adding the union had “secured serious investment from Labour to safeguard jobs.”
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Unite is now considering allowing some of its workers to keep working in order to ensure the safe operation of the furnaces at Port Talbot. The move comes after the union was urged to do so by the Labour party leadership, the newspaper cites people close to the talks as saying.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
