Tata Steel has announced it will cease operations of coke ovens at its Port Talbot plant in south Wales, a move condemned by the union Community as a “massive blow”.
The steelmaker, owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata, said it had made the decision after a “deterioration of operational stability”.
The move is likely to affect about 200 workers, but the immediate impact remains uncertain. Community’s national officer for steel, Alun Davies, told the BBC that the union’s “No 1 concern” was the safety of its members.
In January, Tata Steel said it would shut down its two blast furnaces in Britain by the end of this year, putting almost 3,000 direct jobs at risk, as part of a plan to turn around its loss-making UK steelmaking business by switching to lower carbon electric arc furnaces.
Coke ovens are manufacturing plants or blast furnaces for making coking coal, a key raw material in steelmaking. The ovens had been due to close by mid-2024. Tata said it would increase its imports of coke to compensate for the closure and keep the blast furnaces running for the time being.
Tata Steel’s chief executive, TV Narendran, in an interview with Reuters this year, had said the closure of the two blast furnaces would lead to 2,800 workers losing jobs at Port Talbot, a move that has been rejected by three unions.
The company said on Monday it was in “advanced stage of consultations” with UK unions on its restructuring plans.
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After the restructuring, the steelmaker plans to switch to low-carbon electric arc furnaces, a proposal backed by £500m of government money.
