Tag Archives: Unite

Strike to fight the jobs massacre – Nationalisation not devastation By Alec Thraves (Vice President, Swansea Trades Council) Seven months of fruitless ‘negotiations’ between the steel unions and Tata’s deaf, brutal and intransigent bosses have resulted in the widely expected rejection of both the Unite and the Community/GMB alternative proposals to retain primary steel making at Port Talbot. With a ...

By Alec Thraves Unite has announced a significant ‘Yes’ vote result in their ballot for industrial actionat Port Talbot and Llanwern.All four bargaining units, across the two sites, returned a ‘Yes’ vote showing thedetermination of the majority of the1,500 Unite members to defend their jobs andsave the industry and protect the local communities.With the average age of a Unite Port ...

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 ...

By Jonathan Golding (Cardiff East Socialist Party) On 29 February, members of Cardiff Socialist Party and Trades Council joined workers from the waste management department and members of Unite the Union to lobby the council cabinet for the reinstatement of Tom Watkins, a Unite rep of 15 years. Tom had served for 33 years at Cardiff Council in the street ...

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 Tata Steel bosses have declared the start of a legally obliged, 45-day formal consultation process which could culminate in the initial loss of 2,423 jobs across the UK, with 1,929 of those in Port Talbot, representing exactly half the workforce. Tata’s phoney war is over after TV Narendran, the global chief executive of Tata Steel and the ...

By John Williams, Cardiff Socialist Party After eleven weeks of action in the autumn of 2023, Cardiff Council workers in Unite are striking again, against the national local government (NJC) pay offer. Strike action by refuse and recycling workers started on 28 December and was due to end on 25 January, but is now extended until 22 February. The council ...

What is the point of a Welsh Labour government if it merely passes on UK Tory cuts? By Dave Reid Happy New Year! – the Welsh government has put forward a devastating budget for public services in Wales for 2024. The figures are terrifying: £1.3 billion of cuts in real terms since 2021, even though Welsh Government ministers have said ...

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 ...