Rally for steel

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham will be among the speakers at the trade union steel rally taking place in Port Talbot this Saturday (February 17).

The rally will be followed by a march around the town centre involving trade unions and members of local businesses and organisations. The march and rally will allow local people to demonstrate their opposition to Tata’s plans to cease the production of virgin steel in Port Talbot and close its blast furnaces with the loss of 2,500 jobs.

Speaking ahead of the rally Sharon Graham said, “Tata’s plans will destroy jobs, reduce capacity, damage the community and put our national security at risk – and it doesn’t have to be like this.

“This is crunch time for UK steel and the future of Port Talbot, a town that lives and breathes steel and whose voices must be heard. Tata must change direction, Unite will not stop fighting until they do.”

Prior to the rally in Port Talbot there will be a march through the town centre of Newport assembling at Gilligans Island NP20 2PA at 11:00. Newport is the closet town to Tata’s Llanwern steel works, where approximately 300 jobs have been earmarked to be lost.

Other speakers at the Port Talbot rally will include fellow trade unionists and workers at the plant.

Stay tuned on UniteLive for full coverage of the march and rally.

By Barckley Sumner