Tata Steel UK workers have voted in favour of proposals to turn around the struggling business, potentially saving 8,000 jobs but also leading to cuts to their pension benefits.
Workers from the Community, Unite, and GMB unions all backed the plan in separate ballots. Approximately three-quarters of votes supported the proposals, which involve saving the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales.
[...] Tata Steel had proposed saving 8,000 jobs in its UK business and the Port Talbot steelworks by investing £1bn in modernising its operations over the next 10 years.
This investment depends on spinning off the pension fund into a separate entity and replacing the final salary pension scheme with a less generous contribution scheme.
The existing scheme – the British Steel pension scheme (BSPS) – could enter the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) as part of the arrangement, which would result in a 10% cut to members' benefits. For this to occur Tata Steel must convince the Pensions Regulator that its UK business is on the brink of insolvency and is likely to have to pump hundreds of millions of cash into the scheme.
[...] The jobs have been at risk since last March when Tata Steel announced it was putting its UK business up for sale amid losses of more than £1m a day. The decision sparked a political crisis as the government scrambled to secure the future of the Port Talbot plant. Port Talbot is one of only two sites in Britain that makes steel in blast furnaces.
The government welcomed the result of the vote. A spokesperson said: [...]
"It is testament to the commitment of its workforce that they are willing to work so constructively with the owners to secure the future of the plant. The government will play its role in supporting the steel industry to help deliver a sustainable future."
Source: The Guardian
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16 2017, @10:33PM
So the day is saved. The company is now in stable financial grounds, so the executive team can give themselves their large annual bonuses. They did save the company after all.
And then come 5 years from now, when they face the next financial crunch, well, they can always re-negotiate with the workers. If the workers don't compromise more then, the company will go bankrupt due to the non-compromising worker union. Never mind that those laid-off workers won't have the pensions they gave up in 2017, too.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by srobert on Friday February 17 2017, @12:07AM
How do I mark "Insightful" 10,000 times.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Friday February 17 2017, @01:06AM
Get a botnet!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Friday February 17 2017, @04:27AM
Yes, probably something along the lines of "we need the money in the pension fund to pay out our bonuses this year. we promise to top it up in the future, when the money is to be disbursed to you as a pension".
(Score: 3, Insightful) by varsix on Thursday February 16 2017, @10:33PM
Give it 5 years and they'll take those jobs anyway. And they'll have the added bonus of having to pay less in pensions!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16 2017, @10:59PM
Give it 5 years and they'll take those jobs anyway.
Well, the steel workers did just say, "Tata for now!"
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16 2017, @11:02PM
Mort Zuckerman's ass-kissing New York Daily News ran with the headline
The workers win one at Momentive [nydailynews.com]
As the company's business deals with exotic chemicals, cuts to healthcare are NOT a "win" for workers.
The World Socialist Web Site, which actually represents The Working Class, said
Backed by Democrats, union pushes sellout deal to end Momentive strike [wsws.org]
Momentive strikers forced to take pay and health cuts as US owner throws a multi-million-dollar party [wsws.org]
The New York News (dot press), an operation so new that it doesn't yet have an /about-us page, ran with the headline
Momentive strike ends, but hard feelings persist [newyorknews.press]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by Appalbarry on Friday February 17 2017, @02:05AM
Not mentioned in the summary, or the article, is the fact that the senior executives and bosses also accepted pay and pension cuts of...
Ha! Ha! Had you going there for a minute didn't I?!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @03:24AM
Dang, you've got me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @07:55AM
The scariest line in the whole piece: "The government welcomed the result of the vote."
When you have a govt like that, who needs foreign enemies?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by rleigh on Friday February 17 2017, @08:20AM
Well, it was the government that allowed the sale of British Steel to a foreign company in the first place, which was to me somewhat unbelievable given that steel production is a strategic national asset. As the time I thought it was only a matter of time before the new owners found some excuse to asset strip and shut it down; after all, they would probably prefer to sell us their steel, so buying and shutting down the competition would make sense to them. It's not like that hasn't happened before.
(Score: 2) by jcross on Friday February 17 2017, @05:44PM
Just think about it as the Indians getting their revenge. A little on the late side, to be sure, but it's hard to call it unjustified.