Unions warn on Tata sale plans

Steel unions Community, Unite, the GMB and Ucatt call on management to hold 'meaningful consultations'

Unions have expressed concerns about plans by steel giant Tata to sell its Long Products business, which employs 6,500 workers in the UK, and warned of possible industrial action over pensions.

Earlier this month, Tata Steel signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Klesch Group, an industrial company which operates across Europe.

The division's UK sites include the Scunthorpe steelworks, mills in Teesside, Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland, an engineering workshop in Workington and a rail consultancy in York.

Steel unions Community, Unite, the GMB and Ucatt called on the management to hold "meaningful consultations", saying: "Union representatives from all Tata Steel sites were clear that they are not convinced that selling Long Products is the best way forward in the interests of the members they represent.

"The unions have engaged the Syndex consultancy as expert advisers to provide in-depth economic and industrial research on the alternatives and to test the rationale for the sale. We want Tata Steel to co-operate fully with that process.

"We understand that this process could take weeks or months and that there will be continuing uncertainty for our members, which is why we were so disappointed that Tata Steel failed to consult the unions prior to making their announcement last week.

"During the meeting, union representatives also raised concerns about the implications for their pensions, should a sale proceed. Consequently, the unions have reaffirmed their position, first established in 2009, to ballot their members for industrial action, should Tata Steel make any moves against the British Steel Pension Scheme."