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British Prime Minister David Cameron has been called on to intervene in the dispute between Tata Steel and the unions, after three unions voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action last week.
Stephen Kinnock, a British Labour party MP, representing the constituency within which the Tata Steel Port Talbot plant lies, and husband of Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmdt, called on Cameron, and newly appointed Business Secretary Sajid Javid to encourage Tata Steel leadership in Mumbai to “engage more actively” and return to the negotiating table.
“There is still time to pull this conflict back from the brink,” he wrote in the NewStatesman magazine.
On Friday, three unions — Community, UCATT, and GMB — voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, following a three-week ballot.
They represent over 6,000 of Tata Steel’s 17,500 employees in the UK. The results of a ballot by the Unite Union, which represents around 6,000 workers, are due on Friday.
On Monday, Community held a meeting of national executive councillors who work for Tata Steel to discuss the practicalities of any action.
“Strike action is firmly on the agenda,” Community General Secretary Roy Rickhuss said in a statement following the meeting. “We have heard nothing new from Tata since our ballot result was announced.”
He added that consultation would take place in the next few days over the full range of options for industrial action, and timing, while a meeting between all steel unions would take place next week. Kinnock, defending the decision of the unions to vote for strike action, pointed to some of the problems with the proposed changes by Tata Steel, including removing the early retirement option that allows workers to retire at 60 rather than 65, pointing to the tough physical labour involved.
“Those workers rightly feel let down by Tata Steel’s proposals to close the pension scheme that has formed the basis of their retirement plans since they joined the company.”
On Friday, Tata Steel described the ballot results as “disappointing” and said it hoped employees would consider its proposals, following employee consultation, to mitigate some of the impact of the changes, including to early retirement.
“The company is proposing to continue providing employees with highly attractive and competitive pensions.”
“This is a matter between Tata Steel and the unions and we hope that all parties will be able to find a solution as quickly as possible,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
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