CARMARTHENSHIRE AM and Plaid Cymru Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Business, Economy and Finance, Adam Price AM has today (Jan 8) urged Tata Steel workers to reject the current pension deal that will be voted on later this month, accusing the company of being ‘opportunistic’ in its offer.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales’s Sunday Supplement programme this morning, Adam Price AM said that the deal on the table was ‘unacceptable’, adding that workers should ask Tata to rethink its offer on the Employment Pact and investment.
Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Business, the Economy and Finance, Adam Price AM said: “The economic climate that the steel industry faces in 2017 has been radically transformed.
“The medium-term outlook has improved and profitability has returned to Port Talbot.
“In this context it is by no means a forgone conclusion that the Tata steel workers will accept the pension deal on offer to the workers in the union ballot later this month.”
“In my view the terms of the proposals on the table are simply unacceptable. They are weighted far too heavily towards the company with the £1 billion investment reportedly continge
“On top of this, the language of the Employment Pact is highly dubious – ‘seeking to avoid redundancies’ is not a concrete guarantee., and the company is seeking to walk away from its responsibilities to the 130,000 members of the British Steel Pension Scheme.
“It seems as if the company is using the events of the last 12 months to pressure workers to accept what is in reality an unacceptable deal.
“In my view the workers would be wise to ask the company to think again, and to come back to the table with a firm guarantee in terms of the Employment Pact and the investment. It is also inconceivable that such a large and powerful conglomerate should be allowed to walk away from its existing pension liabilities.
“If Tata is not prepared to do this, the company should be nationalised on a temporary basis and talks reopened with those firms that have been waiting in the wings to buy it.”
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