A planned strike at Tata Steel has been suspended, offering a glimmer of hope for steelmaking in South Wales.
Members of Unite, the union representing many Tata workers, had been engaging in industrial action, like banning overtime.
The union scheduled a full-scale strike starting Monday, July 8.
The dispute centres around Tata’s plans to close two blast furnaces at its Port Talbot plant in South Wales.
It wants to transition to greener steel production methods, requiring fewer workers.
However, the union suspended all current industrial actions and the upcoming strike.
This decision follows high-level weekend talks.
Tata has indicated its willingness to negotiate future investments in its South Wales operations rather than focusing solely on redundancies.
Unite: “Workers were simply not prepared to stand idly by while steel making ended and their communities were laid to waste”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a significant development in the battle to protect jobs and the long-term future of steel making in South Wales.
“Investment from Labour secured by Unite will be key to the future of the site.
“This breakthrough would not have come about without the courage of our members at Port Talbot who were prepared to stand up and fight for their jobs.
“Workers were simply not prepared to stand idly by while steel making ended and their communities were laid to waste.
“It is essential that these talks progress swiftly and in good faith with the focus on fresh investment and ensuring the long-term continuation of steel making in South Wales.”
Unite has taken industrial action.
Other unions like Community and the GMB have also urged Tata to reconsider its plans but have not called for strikes.
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Alun Davies, national officer for Community said: “With thousands of jobs at stake, we welcome Unite’s decision to withdraw their strike action and get back around the table with their sister steel unions.
“Tata confirmed that if the strike was called off, they are ready to resume discussions on a potential MOU (memorandum of understanding) through the Multi-Union Steel Committee which is chaired by Community.
“The truth is Tata never walked away from those discussions, and at our last meeting on 22 May, all unions agreed to conclude the negotiations and put the outcome to our members.
“Community will welcome resuming those discussions, but we regret that zero progress has been made since 22 May.”
The first blast furnace at Port Talbot is scheduled to shut down on Thursday, July 4.
The second is set to close at the end of September.
