ELEVEN thousand steel workers, whose jobs hang in the balance, were watching like hawks as the deadline for ‘interested parties’ to enter bids to take over Tata Steel passed yesterday.
Tomorrow, up to a thousand steel workers from plants across the country are marching on parliament to demand that the future of the industry is secured. Only bidders that are willing to buy the whole of Tata’s UK operations, including the loss-making Port Talbot steelworks, have reached the current point in the sale process.
There are seven bidders in the running. Two of the bidders have said they are willing to work together, Liberty House and the management buyout group, Excalibur Steel.
Tata in India is expected to decide this week which bidders will go forward in the sale process for its UK steel operations.
Any takeover of Tata Steel will require serious public investment from the government as the private bidders are refusing to take on Tata’s massive pension scheme deficit. UK Business Secretary Sajid Javid is meeting Tata bosses in Mumbai, India and the crucial issue of the £485m deficit in Tata Steel’s pension fund will be top of the agenda.
The government itself is split over taking over the pension scheme. A new government proposal to offer the workforce a ‘spun-off’ private pensions scheme underwritten by the government, has been described by the Department for Work and Pensions itself as ‘risky’.
The ‘spun-off’ scheme will provide less generous benefits to steel workers. The developing split between the Tory business secretary Sajid Javid and the Department for Work and Pensions is deep enough to derail the entire process.
Sajid Javid has said that the government is willing to take an equity stake of up to 25% and offer the new owner of the steel works ‘hundreds of millions’ in financial support. The thousands of steel workers who will be marching on parliament tomorrow will be demanding that the industry be nationalised as the only way to defend their jobs and pensions.
These workers are now running out of patience, and there has been some discussion that the only way to achieve nationalisation is to occupy the plant and to demand that the TUC take action in support of the steel workers. As far as these workers are concerned what is required to force the nationalisation of the industry is a general strike.