London, June 28: Tata Steel on Friday said it is being forced to commence legal action to challenge the validity of a steelworkers' union strike ballot, as it warned that its blast furnaces at Port Talbot may have to pause operations amid the industrial action. The Mumbai-headquartered steel major had originally planned to shut down one of the blast furnaces by the end of June and the second one by September. However, Unite the Union's proposed strike from July 8 could result in the closure being forced earlier. “Following the announcement by the Unite Union to unilaterally call strike action from July 8, Tata Steel is unfortunately forced to commence legal action to challenge the validity of Unite's ballot,” a Tata Steel spokesperson said.
“In the coming days, if we cannot be certain that we are able to continue to safely and stably operate our assets through the period of strike action, we will not have any choice but to pause or stop heavy end operations (including both blast furnaces) on the Port Talbot site.
