Tag Archives: Port Talbot

By Alec Thraves, Swansea Trades Council It appears from reports, which will apparently be confirmed tomorrow, that our slogan on “No trust in Tata” has been tragically borne out by the imminent announcement that the two blast furnaces in Port Talbot will be shut down with potential job losses up to 3000 steel workers in the next period. This is ...

Nationalisation NOT Devastation! By Alec Thraves (Swansea Socialist Party & Vice President of Swansea Trades Council) In the run up to Xmas, Steel workers and residents remain on the edge of an economic and social precipice yet again! Tactical differences on how to respond to Tata’s threat of a jobs slaughter have emerged between the steel unions. The Community union and GMB ...

By Alec Thraves The proposal by the Tory Government and Tata Steel for the Port Talbot plant to shut down its two blast furnaces and replace them with ‘greener’ electric arc furnaces, requiring thousands less workers, have provoked anger and panic amongst the workforce, steel unions and the local community. Electric arc furnaces would basically turn the works into a ...

By Rob Williams, Socialist Party Industrial Organiser Steelworkers from the Unite, GMB and Community trade unions marched down Whitehall to Parliament Square on Wednesday behind the #SaveOurSteel banner. Protesting together with them were striking South London outsourced NHS workers in the GMB on their own demonstration, with both groups of workers joining in with each other’s chants. Workers had travelled ...

By Alec Thraves (Socialist Party Wales) Storm clouds are a common feature in this part of South Wales but there has been a permanent economic dark cloud over Port Talbot for several years because of the constant threat of the closure of the Tata Steel plant which employs around 4000 workers and is the beating heart of the town and ...

By Alec Thraves Swansea Socialist Party Once again, just before Xmas, the jobs of thousands of Tata UK steelworkers are threatened by the announcement that Tata Steel intends to make its UK business “self-sustaining” whilst at the same time off-loading its Netherlands based operations, making the UK, with approximately 8000 workers, its sole European steel operation. Around 4,000 of those ...

By Alec Thraves Media reports over the week-end that Tata Steel in Port Talbot was considering shutting down its two blast furnaces and replacing them with ‘greener’ electric arc furnaces, which would require far less workers, have provoked anger and panic amongst the workforce, steel unions and local politicians. Electric arc furnaces would basically turn the works into a steel ...

By Gareth Bromhall In the early hours of 26th April the town of Port Talbot was rocked by a large explosion that residents report sounded like a bomb and woke many across the community. The incident at the local Tata Steel plant, that employs thousands and maintains thousands more across the area, was caused by the spillage of molten metal ...

Tata steelworkers have reluctantly accepted a ‘gun to the head’ pension deal which will end their final salary pension scheme and see it being replaced by an inferior defined contribution pension scheme. Union leaders, Tata management, MPs, AMs and the Welsh government all repeated endlessly to the workforce: accept this deal or see the plant close. Union leaders have attempted ...

By Alec Thraves The announcement that Tata Steel and the leaders of the steel unions have potentially reached an agreement to stop the closure of the Port Talbot works and the other Welsh and UK plants has understandably been greeted with enormous relief by the local community. It has been politically impossible for governments in Westminster and Cardiff to stand ...