Calls for Tata Steel bosses to pay back millions pocketed in bonuses at a time company was ‘pleading poverty’

Steel bosses should pay back millions of pounds worth of bonuses after being accused by Plaid Cymru’s North Wales AM Llyr Gruffydd of having ‘one law for the workers and another for the bosses’

The Indian steel firm paid 100 of its top European managers around £25m in so-called ‘loyalty bonuses’.

The “retention” payments were made to high-ranking staff across Tata’s UK and Dutch operations, according to media reports.

Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Jenkins also called on Tata Steel bosses to pay back the the millions pocketed in bonuses and at a time when they were asking thousands of steel workers to accept big pension cuts.

Ms Jenkins, who is also Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on steel, said that the pay-outs at a time the company was pleading poverty, was an insult to the thousands of workers at Tata Steel in Wales and across the UK. She said;

Over the last few years, loyal and dedicated Tata Steel workers at Port Talbot and across Wales and the UK have put up with the uncertainty and insecurity which has resulted from Tata’s claims that it could not afford to continue with its current pension scheme.

The workforce accepted to severely cut their own pensions and the pensions of future workers, in order to save their industry which Tata made crystal clear was under threat of closure.

This news will rightly outrage the thousands of workers who took difficult decisions to save their jobs and give Tata the benefit of the doubt at the time.

Tata’s position that they had to pay these loyalty bonuses to keep top managers working for the company is hard to take seriously. The fact that this information only came to light after a leak from a Dutch whistle-blower adds insult to injury as it makes clear that Tata were trying their best to keep these pay-outs a secret.

I believe Tata bosses should return this money, it’s the right thing to do. There are thousands of workers across Tata Steel who have had to come to terms with losing money which was owed them and they agreed to it to save their jobs and future jobs.

This show of faith in the company and in the future of steel needs to be reciprocated now. The workforce in Port Talbot is still waiting for investment from Tata which was promised to them as part of the changes, including pension losses, the workforce agreed to last year to save the industry.

Where is that investment? The company has the money to give away £25 million in bonuses but promised investment has still not materialised.

I would also urge the Welsh Government to have discussions with Tata as soon as possible and make it clear on behalf of the thousands of workers, which they have also committed to support, that these pay-outs are unacceptable.