In January 2024, Tata Steel confirmed that it would shut down its Port Talbot blast furnaces with the loss of 2,800 jobs. This announcement came a few months after it was confirm the company would received £500 million subsidies from the government to transition its site to electric ARC furnaces, raising questions on how a 'green' transition should happen to the detriment of workers and their communities.

Watch the 'Climate Justice for Steel Workers' online rally here.

Unite is beginning industrial action on 17th June with a work-to-rule and an overtime ban. This will be followed by strike action if the company doesn't row back on its plans.

I pledge to support the workers and to participate to "Climate Justice for Steel Workers" actions to back their industrial actions (the support actions are yet to be defined but by signing the pledge, we will keep you up-to-date with the plans).

Workers and their Trade Unions have been fighting against the job losses and put forward alternative plans to save jobs that would delay the closure of the blast furnaces to preserve jobs.  It is crucial for the Climate Justice movement to stand in solidarity with workers as the Transition starts. Workers shouldn't pay the price and the Transition should be Just and workers-led. If we want wind power to be at the heart of of renewable energy production system, we should have a strong steel production in the UK. We need the future UK government to develop strong Just Transition strategies but also our Trade Unions to prioritise the Climate & Environmental Crisis as an industrial issue.

For more info, read this background paper by the Campaign Against Climate Change and this blog by the Greener Jobs Alliance. You can read Unite's Workers Plan for Port Talbot here and the Unite campaign page here.