Multinational conglomerate Tata is set to shut the Port Talbot steelworks earlier than first announced over strike plans. The company has said it will bring the final closure date to 7 July, from September, as Unite members at the steel plant were due to strike on 8 July . Cutting emissions One of the steel blast furnaces is to close at the end of this month in a push to reduce carbon emissions at what is the UK's single largest source of CO2.
But that second closure looks set to take place next month, quickening the end of the plant and the loss of 2,800 jobs - 2,500 in the next year, a further 300 in three years. It comes despite £500m of taxpayer cash to support the site's transition to cheaper, greener steel production to cut emissions. The previous fossil-fuel-powered blast furnaces are to be replaced by a single electric arc furnace.
Tata Steel workers to hold 'all-out indefinite strike' in July, Unite says Tata Steel rejects Labour plea over Port Talbot green transition Port Talbot steelworkers' union announces date for industrial action Political intervention Labour had pleaded with the company to hold fire on any closures before a new government is elected on 4 July. Senior Labour figures including shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens had urged Tata to wait for a possible Labour government so fresh talks can take place. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Unite is fighting for the future of the steel industry.
We have secured serious investment from Labour to .
