Thousands March in Manchester for May Day Parade, Highlighting Struggle of UK Steel Industry
Manchester, UK – Workers from various trade unions came together in the streets of Manchester on Sunday to participate in a May Day parade, voicing their concerns about the current state of the British steel industry. The parade, organized by some of the country’s largest trade unions, saw a large crowd holding placards and chanting slogans in support of workers’ rights and fair pay.
Amidst the festive atmosphere and under the shining sun, one particular marcher stood out – Jason Wyatt, a steelworker from Port Talbot, a town in South Wales. Wyatt, along with several thousand of his colleagues, is facing the threat of redundancy. He took to the stage during the parade to shed light on the situation in his hometown, where the steel industry is a vital source of employment.
“They are trying to destroy the livelihoods of 2,800 people,” Wyatt said. “Port Talbot is the last bastion of heavy industry in South Wales. We have to fight.”
Port Talbot has been home to a steelworks for 125 years, with the current large, sprawling site owned by Indian company Tata Steel. The plant employs around half of its 8,000 workforce in the town. According to Welsh government figures, the local economy heavily relies on the manufacturing sector, providing approximately a fifth of jobs in the area.
However, the British steel industry has been struggling to remain competitive in a global market, leading to an uncertain future for communities like Port Talbot. In 2019, the UK produced seven million tonnes of steel, lagging behind seven EU nations – including Germany, which produced 40 million tonnes. Meanwhile, China produced a staggering 996 million tonnes.
Apart from the challenge of competition, steelworks also incur high costs due to their heavy energy consumption. The Port Talbot plant, for instance, has the largest energy bill and uses as much electricity as the entire city of Swansea, located a few miles away.
Tata Steel claims that its UK business is losing £1 million every day. The company is also facing pressure to reduce its carbon emissions, as the Port Talbot plant is currently the single biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in Britain. In an attempt to move towards greener production, Tata has proposed the building of a new electric arc furnace, for which the UK government has agreed to provide £500 million in funding.
However, to proceed with the construction, Tata says it needs to shut down the two remaining blast furnaces in Port Talbot, resulting in the loss of 2,800 jobs. This move towards green production has put the company in a difficult position, with many other industries in the UK and around the world also facing similar challenges.
“Tata is asking people to save the business with a forfeit in their jobs. It’s awful,” said Wyatt, who has been working at the Port Talbot plant for 25 years.
According to the Resolution Foundation think tank, an estimated 1.3 million workers in carbon-intensive industries will need to adapt to cleaner technologies and processes. However, there are differing opinions on the cost of this transition. The TUC estimates that 800,000 manufacturing and supply chain jobs could be lost without government support, while the Climate Change Committee predicts that anywhere between 8,000 and 75,000 jobs could be affected.
The UK government, on the other hand, claims to be leading the way in the transformation of the energy industry, with over 80,000 green jobs currently supported or in the pipeline since 2020. A government spokesperson stated that the transferable expertise from industries like steelworks and oil and gas will be crucial for the country’s transition to net-zero emissions. They also reassured that the Green Jobs Plan will ensure sufficient skills to meet future workforce demands across the economy.
Inside the Port Talbot plant, the air is thick with the smell of sulphur, a by-product of the manufacturing process. Peter Quinn, who is leading Tata’s move towards green steel, says that the timeline of four years for the construction of the arc furnace is still “approximate.” He also mentioned that consultations with stakeholders, including the workers, need to be completed before any decisions are made.
Unions and local politicians have urged Tata to keep one blast furnace operational while the new one is being built. However, the company argues that this is not feasible from a cost perspective, leaving the only other option of abandoning steelmaking in Port Talbot altogether.
Wyatt believes that a more gradual transition could be a better solution, avoiding the need for redundancies. “We’re not opposing the green steel agenda,” he said. “What we’re opposing is the way in which we’re transitioning.”
This shift to greener production is already impacting Wyatt’s family. His 19-year-old son, Tyler, had planned to apply for an apprenticeship at Tata but is now uncertain about his future.
