Tag Archives: Tata Steel

By Alec Thraves (Swansea Socialist Party and Swansea Trades Union Council) Tata Steel bosses are now stepping up their ‘non-negotiable’ plan to shut the two remaining blast furnaces at its Port Talbot site, something the Socialist Party has consistently raised is on the cards. This means the loss of almost 2,000 steel jobs and a knock-on affect to thousands more ...

By Alec Thraves (Swansea Socialist Party and Swansea Trades Council) Tata’s shock announcement, that it will be shutting down all of its Port Talbot coke ovens within a couple of days, will just confirm what most steelworkers already knew and what the Socialist Party has long warned: that there can be no trust in Tata! As part of the fight ...

Nationalisation Not Devastation! By Alec Thraves (Vice President, Swansea Socialist Party) Hundreds of steelworkers, trade unionists and Port Talbot residents marched through the town today to demand that Tata Steel steps back from its threat to sack 2,000 workers as it scales down the Tata plant at Port Talbot. Also today Newport workers marched to prevent job losses at the ...

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 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 Dave Reid On Saturday steelworkers from all over Britain joined hundreds of Orb workers and their families on an impressive march through Newport to demand that the Tata Orb steelworks in the city is saved. Tata has announced the closure of the Orb works and the loss of 380 jobs which has been making steel in Newport for over ...