Indian-owned Tata Steel to cut 3,000 jobs in Wales, source says
- The company will on Friday confirm the closure of two blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks, resulting in the loss of over one-third of staff
- UK government has been looking to help Tata Steel and British Steel, run by Chinese group Jingye, to replace dirty blast furnaces
Indian-owned Tata Steel is to cut about 3,000 jobs at a plant in Wales, a source said on Thursday, as the industry struggles to finance greener production of the metal.
The company will on Friday confirm the closure of two blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks, resulting in the loss of over one-third of staff, the source with knowledge of the plan told Agence France-Presse.
It follows talks on Thursday with unions, who described the development as “a crushing blow”.
“When we have any formal announcement to make about our proposals for the future, we will always share these with our employees first,” it added.
Towards the end of last year, the UK government provided £500 million (US$634 million) to fund the production of “greener” steel at the country’s biggest steelworks, while saying that 3,000 jobs were still at risk.
The money for an electric furnace safeguarded 5,000 of the more than 8,000 jobs.