A strike at the Port Talbot steelworks has been called off after its owner, Tata Steel, offered to engage in fresh talks with trade unions over future investment in a plant destined to lose 2,800 jobs and close its last remaining blast furnaces.
Members of the Unite trade union had been due to begin industrial action on 8 July, days after Tata plans to begin a process that will ultimately end more than 70 years of making steel from scratch at the plant.
But on Monday, Unite confirmed that it had called off the strike after Rajesh Nair, the UK boss of Tata Steel, wrote to unions over the weekend to offer a new round of discussions about future investments at the south Wales site.
Unite said Tata had confirmed that “it was now prepared to enter into negotiations about future investment for its operations and not just redundancies” in south Wales.
Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “This is a significant development in the battle to protect jobs and the long-term future of steelmaking in south Wales. Investment from Labour secured by Unite will be key to the future of the site.
“This breakthrough would not have come about without the courage of our members at Port Talbot who were prepared to stand up and fight for their jobs. Workers were simply not prepared to stand idly by while steelmaking ended and their communities were laid to waste.
“It is essential that these talks progress swiftly and in good faith with the focus on fresh investment and ensuring the long-term continuation of steelmaking in south Wales.”
Community, which represents more steelworkers than Unite and has often disagreed with its sister union over how to protect Port Talbot workers, welcomed the decision.
“Tata confirmed that if the strike was called off they are ready to resume discussions on a potential [memorandum of understanding], through the multi-union steel committee which is chaired by Community,” said Alun Davies, a national officer for Community.
“The truth is Tata never walked away from those discussions, and at our last meeting on 22 May all unions agreed to conclude the negotiations and put the outcome to our members. Community will welcome resuming those discussions, but we regret that zero progress has been made since 22 May.
“With thousands of jobs at stake, we welcome Unite’s decision to withdraw their strike action and get back around the table with their sister steel unions.”
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The Guardian has approached Tata Steel UK for comment.
Tata had originally planned to close the second of its two remaining blast furnaces at the end of September, while the process of shutting down the first is due to begin in the middle of this week.
The plans were brought forward after Unite announced indefinite strike action by about 1,500 of its members beginning on 8 July. Tata said it could not “safely and stably” operate the plant during any strike, and it has brought forward complete closure of the second furnace to as early as next Sunday 7 July.
The new electric furnace is not due to come onstream until 2027 and unions want steelmaking to continue until then.