Tata: Steelworkers' Port Talbot protest over cuts plan

Workers have protested outside Port Talbot's steel plant in a show of support for the industry.

It came after owner Tata's announcement that 2,800 jobs will go, mainly from the south Wales town.

Plans include the shutting down and dismantling of its two primary steelmaking blast furnaces in 2024, to be replaced by an electric arc furnace that produces "green" steel.

Tata has said its current operations are financially unviable.

The company said it would build a £1.25bn electric arc furnace after the UK government contributed £500m towards its cost and end the production of steel from scratch, known as virgin steel, this year.

Staff, unions and residents have said the proposals would leave the town "doomed", with many fearful of how they will pay the bills in the wake of the job losses to come.

Jeffrey Wellington, 52, a shift electrician in the steelworks, said it is a place where many generations of families have worked.

"I've been here coming up to 35 years and it's all I've ever known," he said.

"Everybody knows someone who works within the steelworks or is associated with it - this is huge for the town.

"My daughter's partner works here and they've just taken out a mortgage and had a baby so they are worried.

"He needs employment but there's nothing like this in the local area, so he'll have to look further afield.

"I'm at the age where I don't want to be travelling too far, but I just feel for the boys who are a lot younger than me really," he added.

Shaun Hughes, a 60-year-old machinist who has worked in the steelworks for 44 years, said: "This is going to have an absolutely massive impact on the town, but also on the whole south Wales corridor in general.

"Families have been panicking since this was originally announced last November and that has not changed one iota.

"I've got children of my own and they are already speaking of leaving the area or going abroad to work, which my wife and myself don't want to see.

He said the steel world served as a "gimmer of light" for those in the south Wales valleys who lost their jobs in the mining industry in the 1980s.

"But that has been extinguished now," he added.

Julie Morris, 60, from the Sandfields area of the town, said: "It's going to be a doomed town if they take the steelworks away.

"It's going to be diabolical and will affect the workers, the shops, everybody."

Former steelworker, Jason Bartlett, of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, called the situation "devastating".

"It will be a completely unrecoverable situation because you can't walk out of this job into another job because they just don't exist in Wales.

"These are worrying times for those with mortgages and young families who are just starting out in their careers within the steel industry.

"All of a sudden they're being told there is no future for them.

He added,: "These are highly skilled workers who have been told that, by the end of the year, the majority of them won't have jobs.

"We know we've got to transition but we need to keep blast furnace four open until the electric arc is switched on."