Steely resolve
Aside from the merger of Ball and Rexam last year, the most significant news story of the past 12 months has been the on-going saga with Tata Steel in the UK. It appears that the story will be put to bed once and for all, with the unions at Tata Steel recommending that its steel workers in the UK plants accept the proposals laid out to them over a new pension deal. Two weeks ago, the steelworkers overwhelmingly backed the deal.
The deal also includes a £1bn investment to the areas which include the following:
- A guaranteed, minimum five-year commitment to keeping two blast furnaces at the Port Talbot plant
- A 10-year £1bn investment plan to support steel making at the site
- A commitment to seek to avoid compulsory redundancies for five years
- A consultation on replacing the current pension with a “defined contribution scheme” involving maximum contributions of 10% from the company and 6% from employees
(source BBC News)
As a proud Brit myself, it’s fantastic news and hopefully commits Tata Steel to the UK for many years to come. Although this is only a five-year plan initially, you would think that the investment of a billion should ensure that this is a long-term plan, rather than just a temporary measure to pacify workers and give the organisation some time to think of what they are going to do.
I’d appreciate your comments, so please do let me know your views.
I’m making my first visit to Dubai this weekend, where I’ll be visiting Delta Food. I’ll be blogging from there, where I hope to give you the inside track and the latest developments from the company. I’m hoping for a bit of sun to welcome me as it’s pretty miserable in the UK at the minute!
Until next time…
