Prime Minister urges Tata Steel and unions to end dispute

THE Prime Minister has intervened to try and prevent strike action taking place by unions representing workers at Tata Steel.

As things stand, workers at Tata Steel plants around the UK will walk out for a one-day strike on June 22 in a dispute over pensions.

David Cameron used Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday to urge the company and the unions to agree a settle which would prevent the industrial action.

Tata Steel has plants across the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East.

The strike action will be preceded by action short of strike action involving an overtime ban and a work to rule. The action short of strike action will begin as soon as legally practical – possibly around the middle of next week.

Roy Rickhuss, chair of the National Trade Union Steel Co-ordinating Committee, and General Secretary of the Community trade union, said: “Tata have given us no option but to take industrial action. The company has not shown any willingness to return to meaningful negotiations to find an end to this dispute.

“Our members are determined to stand up for their pensions. They delivered a massive vote in favour of industrial action, so that is what will happen. An overtime ban and work-to-rule will cause massive disruption to Tata’s operations and severely limit production.

“The company could avoid this by returning to the table. But in the meantime all the unions will also be making preparations for a national day of strike action on June 22.”

Unite and the GMB have both said they are still open to talks and have urged Tata to take part in negotiations.

Dave Hulse, GMB National Officer, said: “It’s time Tata got back round the table and looked for a way to resolve this dispute. Our members are ready for industrial action and the company should heed the message that their workforce is delivering.”

The threatened industrial action is over proposed changes to pensions which could see employees having to retire at 65 rather than 60.

Tata Steel has said it has been trying to develop an affordable and sustainable pension scheme for its employees and so it was disappointed in the proposed strike action.

It said there was universal agreement that changes needed to be made to resolve the issues facing the pension scheme due to a projected shortfall of over £2bn.

The company is expected to announce new measures which it claims will lessen the impact of the proposed pension changes, particularly on workers approaching retirement age.