Tata Steel Europe has called the workers of IJmuiden plant for talks to end the three-day strike. The Dutch Tata Steel employees are protesting against 1,000 job cuts planned as part of a broader restructuring.

The entire production of packaging steel at Tata's IJmuiden plant has come to a halt even as the demand has plunged due to the lockdown.

In the current environment of global uncertainty caused by the pandemic, Tata Steel Europe has been working with all the stakeholders, including the unions in both the Netherlands and the UK, to meet the challenges, said Tata Steel in a statement.

“We had requested our union colleagues in the Netherlands to postpone industrial action so that we could continue discussions and find the best way forward to meet everyone’s interests,” said the company.

Industrial action will put further pressure on the company’s results as it continues to deal with the impact of lower steel demand caused by the pandemic. It is important for all stakeholders to make every effort to keep the company in good health, it added.

“We have invited the FNV union for a conversation and, while it has not responded, our doors are still open, and the company looks forward to an active engagement with the unions in the coming days,” said Tata Steel.

Earlier, about 9,000 employees of IJmuiden steelworks have demand an assurance from Tata Steel that its transformation programme will not lead to redundancies. Incidentally, it is for the first time in 28 years that Tata Steel Ijmuiden workers have gone on strike. Last month, Chairman of Tata Steel Netherlands Theo Henrar was suddenly laid off and Vice-Chairman Hans van den Berg was asked to take over.

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