STEEL giant Tata's plea of poverty over plans to sack 2,800 steelworkers in Wales were exposed as a sham by Unite today.
Union analysis of the firm’s finances showed it made a profit of £3 billion last year and pocketed a £500 million taxpayer handout.
Unite said that Tata is awash with money and had paid out £1.4bn in shareholder dividends in the last five years, while also holding reserves of £1.6bn.
Tata announced plans to slash 2,800 of the 4,000-strong workforce last week as part of the transition of its Port Talbot steelworks from coal-fired blast furnaces to “more environmentally friendly” electric-arc steel production.
The firm has rejected a joint-union alternative plan which would save the jobs.
Unite said that in the last five years Tata Steel Ltd’s revenue has grown by 47 per cent and the company has generated a combined profit of £9.7bn, describing the company’s 2023 returns as its best ever.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Tata’s pleas of poverty have been exposed as a sham.
"They are making money hand over fist and will only profit from bringing in more Indian and Dutch steel to the UK if we cut capacity. It is unbelievable that the government is going along with this.
"Rather than demanding that the needed investment comes with jobs guarantees and growth for UK steel, they are giving Tata half a billion of taxpayers’ money to slash its workforce and flood the UK with foreign steel.
“Port Talbot is far from the basket case that Tata has painted it as: there is an underlying healthy business which could be transformed by serious investment to increase capacity, with the UK becoming the green capital of steel.
“Instead Tata has cynically chosen to close its blast furnaces and cut skilled jobs to boost its own interests at the expense of UK workers, UK industry and the UK economy.”
Tata Steel UK said it had losses of almost £135m between July and September on top of £162m of losses in the year up to last March.
Unite said that in the previous year the business made a £193m profit.
