Today, Monday 22 July, climate and workers’ rights groups including Greenpeace UK, Extinction Rebellion, Green New Deal Rising, and Community Trade Union, came together to hold a demonstration outside Tata Steel HQ in London in support of steelworkers.
Tata Steel’s Port Talbot steelworks, one of the UK’s main virgin steel producers, is facing potential mass job losses – which could have a negative impact on the community. But with the new government, there’s an opportunity to renegotiate for a fairer and greener transition to a better way of making steel that benefits both workers and the environment.
With negotiations over the future of the steelworks still ongoing, a coalition of organisations has sent a letter to the UK government and Tata Steel calling on them to meet the steelworkers’ unions demands. They ask Tata and the UK government to work on a plan for a transition to greener processes that will help retain workers’ skills and preserve steel making capability in the UK.
The coalition, which also includes the New Economics Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Medact, War on Want, said in the letter they say that “high grade green steel production is crucial for building a green economy. We need green steel – including primary steel – for building wind turbines, railways, and zero emission vehicles. Closing down the blast furnaces without replacement will simply offshore our emissions and leave us reliant on importing dirty steel.”
The letter goes on to say: “we urgently need a green transition in our manufacturing industries to meet our climate goals. But there will be no green transition without proper investment. And there will be no green transition without our workers and their unions.”
In their letter, the organisations are calling on the UK government and Tata to meet the demands of the steelworkers’ unions.
One option for making green steel that is rapidly advancing around the world – but not yet in the UK – would be to use hydrogen to maintain virgin steel production and safeguard jobs. But pursuing the different options available would need government investment and Tata Steel’s commitment to a just transition.
Greenpeace UK has outlined their core demands which are:
- Government and Tata Steel to fund the transition to new approaches such as hydrogen-based steelmaking.
- Protection of jobs and communities reliant on the steel industry, avoiding the devastating impacts seen in former mining areas.
- Proper funding for a just transition to a green economy, ensuring fair compensation and support for workers in high-carbon industries.
- Government to draw up a proper Plan for Steel for the UK to support transition of the industry to a green and economically sustainable future
