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Tata Steel workers in the UK suspend strike in favour of talks

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Around 1,500 workers at the sites, who had already begun a ban on overtime on June 17, were also scheduled to go on an indefinite strike starting July 8.

However, the union said it had suspended industrial action after the company confirmed it was ready to talk about “future investment in its operations and not just redundancies”.

“This is a significant development in the fight to secure jobs and the long-term future of steel production in South Wales,” said Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham.

“It is vital that these discussions progress expeditiously and in good faith, with a focus on new investment and ensuring the long-term continuity of steel production in South Wales.”

A spokesman for the company, which had also threatened legal action to challenge the validity of Unite’s strike vote, welcomed the union’s move to suspend the strikes.

“Now that we are confident that we can provide the resources required to operate safely, we will cease preparations for the early closure of Blast Furnace 4 and the other heavy furnace at Port Talbot,” they said.

When talks resume, “the focus will be on future investments and objectives for the company, rather than on renegotiating our existing plan to close heavy factories or improved terms for job creation,” the spokesman added.

The company, which employs over 8,000 people in the UK, had previously said its steel production facilities were nearing the end of their life, were operationally unstable and were generating unsustainable losses of one million pounds ($1.26 million) a day.

(1 USD = 0.7915 pounds)

(Reporting by William James and Muvija M, editing by Kylie MacLellan and Sharon Singleton)

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