Tata Pension Deal

Tata steelworkers have reluctantly accepted a ‘gun to the head’ pension deal which will end their final salary pension scheme and see it being replaced by an inferior defined contribution scheme.

- Alec Thraves

Union leaders, Tata management, MPs, AMs and the Welsh government all repeated endlessly to the workforce: accept this deal or see the plant close.

Union leaders have attempted to justify their recommendation to accept the deal by portraying the changes as going from ‘a gold-plated pension to a silver-plated pension’.

Huge concession

Unfortunately, this huge concession by the workforce still provides no guarantees for the jobs of Tata workers  across the UK and particularly for the 4,000 workers in Port Talbot who now have to rely on Tata’s so called commitments to invest in the plant.

At a National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) meeting in  Port Talbot  in January, one ex-steelworker said that the £1 billion planned investment over the next ten years was dependant on Tata turning over £200 million profit a year, which is widely regarded as impossible with the rundown state of the plant.