Union steps up action at Tata steelworks in south Wales

Union leaders are preparing to increase industrial action at two south Wales steelworks, in a further escalation of a row over almost 3,000 job losses that threatens to become a big general election issue.

- Simon Goodley

Unite said the moves at the Port Talbot and Llanwern works were in response to a threat by the sites' Indian owner, Tata Steel, to cut redundancy pay after members had voted for an overtime ban.

The actions come after Tata rejected a trade union plan earlier this year designed to keep Port Talbot's blast furnaces running, with their closure putting 2,800 jobs at risk and leaving the UK on course to become the only major economy unable to make steel from scratch.

Tata told workers' representatives in January that it could no longer afford to continue production at the loss-making Port Talbot plant while it completed a four-year transition plan to greener production. The company said operating the old furnaces was losing it £1m a day.

The row could become an election issue, with competing proposals from the Conservatives, the unions and Labour.