‘Premature’ to talk about strike action for Welsh steelworkers says First Minister
The First Minister of Wales has said it’s “premature” to talk about strike action for Welsh steelworkers.
Vaughan Gething has called for Tata Steel and unions to get back around the negotiating table after the company announced plans to close blast furnaces in south Wales – a move which is expected to see 2,800 jobs lost.
The Community and Unite unions have balloted members, with overwhelming support for strike action.
Action
Speaking to the PA news agency on a visit to the company in Mumbai, Vaughan Gething said: “I understand why the industrial action ballot took place.”
He added: “What I want to see happen is I want the company and trade unions back in the same room negotiating to make progress on this. I think it’s premature to talk about action actually taking place.
“I respect the results of the ballot and I pointed out the strength of the Community ballot today, get back in the room and make progress on the future.”
The First Minister has pleaded for Tata Steel to wait for a Labour government before making job cuts.
Flagship
The Welsh Government has called for a fairer, more gradual transition to greener steel production, which does not result in imminent redundancies and continues to provide the good quality British steel needed to support many of the UK’s flagship green aspirations.
Mr Gething said: “I made clear the case that the Welsh Government’s prime position is we don’t want to see the final blast furnace turned off with the significant numbers of job losses that will entail.
“I spoke to Keir Starmer before I came out, and the person who is the likely next prime minister made clear that he sees a manifesto offer that we’ll need more steel not less.
“And just as I do, he does not want there to be an irreversible choice made just before a general election, that is only months away.”
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It is for the unions and workers to make that decision.
I suspect nothing will change the minds of Tata Steel. They are opening one of the largest blast furnaces in the world in India. They don’t need the ones in Port Talbot.
This represents yet another failure of the privatisation of state industries racket.
Gething is hardly the straight talker needed to deal with TATA. 60 Senedd members and not many straight talkers among them.
I’m afraid Linda Jones is right. Tata clearly want to get rid of Port Talbot, and are acting with indecent haste to do so. The best we can hope for is t stall irrevocable decisions until we have a new Westminster government – the Welsh government could never find the resources – and then press them as hard as possible for a rational solution that preserves our capacity to make the steel we need. Given that no pledge could be obtained from Labour to right Wales’s monstrous wrong over HS2 finance, there can be no guarantees, but that I fear… Read more »
The article eaves me wondering if and how much Tata have offered Gething in donations.
Exactly what has this to do with VG our great leader and what is he going to achieve in India, still nice jolly for him away from reality. Hope he’s taken his mate dave with him for some company and advice.