Last Wednesday, on 20 March, Tata Steel closed the coke ovens at Port Talbot due to ‘safety concerns’, before the conclusion of a 45 day consultation. This comes after Tata bosses reassured union leaders at a recent meeting that their intention was to not only keep the ovens open, but to extend them.
Workers would certainly not be blamed for mistrusting Tata regarding such ‘concerns’. If there are any issues about performance and safety, then the blame lies with Tata for not providing proper maintenance while they strip the plant and send all the profits abroad.
All quiet on the Westminster front
Of course, nobody in Westminster has responded to this latest attack. What does it matter if one more plant is added to the long line of industries that they’ve destroyed or sold off?
So-called ‘Labour’ leader Keir Starmer has also been quiet. This is shameful, considering his reassurances last year when he visited the steelworks that Labour wanted “to ensure there’s a plan that preserves the jobs and experience that we’ve got”.
And where has the Welsh government been during all of this? There’s been not so much as a whiff of resistance from incoming Wales First Minister Vaughan Gething – a former president of the Welsh TUC, who Unite backed with significant resources.
Instead of fighting Tata over this, the unions have openly said that they will not oppose early closures on safety grounds. In fact, our good friend Alun Davies from Community has stated that “regretfully the coke ovens were always going to close during the transition period”.
There you go. There’s apparently no need to organise a fightback, because this was all inevitable. Of course it is, when the union’s national steel officer so easily throws in the towel!
Where’s the leadership?
This is just the latest example of spineless union leaders accepting Tata’s managed decline, instead of seizing the opportunity to attack the bosses for letting the situation get so bad.
This latest move by Tata shows how pitiful the union leaders have been in Port Talbot.
They have dragged their feet and followed procedures routinely. Meanwhile, Tata bosses have been astute and decisive. Legal practices didn’t stop them from putting out an illicit threat to withhold redundancy pay, in order to scare Community from balloting for action.
This latest move to close the coking ovens will now cut across – and highlight the limitations of – the insufficient Unite ballot, which has come far too late.
Steelworkers are in this situation because union leaders tied their hands and told them to wait for negotiations – all while Tata bosses took their gloves off and rode roughshod over legality and ‘gentlemen’s agreements’.
Strike and occupy!
No doubt steelworkers feel angry and betrayed. They must be wondering: how soon will it be before Tata starts closing the rest of the steelworks early?
Steelworkers cannot wait to find out. Now is the time to take immediate action, instead of waiting for their so-called leaders. If Tata won’t play by the rules, then neither should workers. An immediate walkout should be organised to bring everything to a standstill.
Tata may have struck the first blow, but the workers are far from being knocked out.
It’s time to stand up, build for a mass occupation of the steelworks, and save Port Talbot before it’s too late!
