The agreement for the green steel project at Port Talbot was signed between India’s largest steel company, Tata Steel, and the UK government. The UK government had earlier committed to providing £500 million towards the project, which has a £1.25 billion budget. According to the corporation, 5,000 employees would be retained and the project will be operational in three years. Under Rishi Sunak’s leadership, the previous Conservative government approved £500 million in funding for the steelworks. A few extra provisions have been made for the employees by the recently established Labour administration.
“The new and improved deal goes much further than the previous government’s agreement – delivering a minimum voluntary redundancy payout of £15,000 for full-time employees plus a £5000 ‘retention’ payment and offering paid-for training to give workers a steady income and upskill them for the jobs of the future,” UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds in a separate announcement.
“I want to express my gratitude to the UK Steel Committee and other Welsh and UK government agencies for helping us come to this agreement. We now anticipate that the EAF project will be carried out effectively and quickly,” TV Narendran, managing director of Tata Steel, stated.
In an effort to reduce carbon emissions, Tata Steel decided on a reorganisation plan last year that included replacing the blast furnaces at its Port Talbot facility with electric furnaces that would use recycled steel. Unfortunately, 2,800 jobs will be lost as a result of this switch to a low-emission system since electric furnaces require fewer labourers. Tata Steel has committed to offering leaving workers a large benefits package and a thorough voluntary redundancy process that includes possibilities for retraining or other job alternatives.
The two surviving blast furnaces will soon be shut down, according to recent pronouncements by Tata Steel, as part of its plans to move manufacturing to a new electric furnace. While one of the furnaces has already stopped producing, the other is expected to stop by the end of this month.
