Tata: Company not informed by unions of intention to strike.

Thousands of Tata steelworkers at sites across the UK including employees at Tata Shotton are set to strike on June 22 in a long-running battle over pensions.

While Tata UK have said publicly the are ‘disappointed’ by the proposed action, Tata’s Indian based parent company has released a statement to stock markets this morning claiming the company have not been informed by unions of their intention to strike.

In a letter addressed to the National Stock Exchange of India, the parent company say Tata Steel UK only learnt about the strike through newspaper reports and have not received any formal notification of strike action.

Unions have to are obliged to give one weeks notice of strike action which is currently being prepared.

@DeesideDotCom the unions need to give one weeks notice. The official notification document is being prepared.

— keith jordan (@keithjordan1960) June 9, 2015

Around 13,000 workers are involved in a row over pensions, the strike will be the first in the steel industry for 35 years and a ban on overtime and work to rule will start next week.

Roy Rickhuss, the general secretary of the Community union, said:

“Tata have given us no option but take industrial action. The company has not shown any willingness to return to meaningful negotiations to find an end to this dispute. Our members are determined to stand up for their pensions.

“They delivered a massive vote in favour of industrial action, so that is what will happen. An overtime ban and work-to-rule will cause massive disruption to Tata’s operations and severely limit production. The company could avoid this by returning to the table.”

Under the proposed changes to pensions employees would retire at 65 instead of 60.

Paul Reuter, a national officer at Unite, said:

“We are still open to talks if Tata are prepared for meaningful discussions. We have offered Tata the savings it says it needs. But the company wants to close the scheme altogether. This is not acceptable to workers, which is why industrial action will start next week.”

A Tata Steel spokesman said:

“We have been trying to develop an affordable and sustainable pension scheme for employees so we are very disappointed by today’s announcement on a strike and industrial action.