Image source, Owen Midwinter
- Author, Paul Heaney
- Role, BBC Wales investigates
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Owen Midwinter thought he had a ‘job for life’ when he started a five-year apprenticeship with Tata Steel in Port Talbot.
But eighteen months later, that certainty has been replaced by uncertainty – and the 23-year-old and his girlfriend may have to postpone their plans to start a family.
New analysis for the BBC suggests his city could lose more than £200m in wages due to job losses at the steelworks.
Professor Calvin Jones, its author, said this was an “end of an era” for British steelmaking, comparable to the closure of coal mines in the 1980s.
Mr Midwinter said of when the job cuts were announced: “Everyone in the room went quiet…wives and girlfriends rang the doorbell, one of the boys had to go for a walk to clear his head.
“My father has been here for years and years, my grandfather has been here and it was a proud moment for me. But it is very gloomy now, a lot of sad faces, a lot of depression.”
His girlfriend Cori said: “If Owen loses his job, it will jeopardize the house. We want to start a family soon, but it will jeopardize everything until we know.”
Town of Steel – BBC Wales investigates
Tata said it “must act now” to protect the company’s future by closing blast furnaces and switching to greener ways of producing steel that require fewer people.
Some experts say the lack of a clear strategy from successive British governments is behind the job losses in the well-paid sector that may never be replaced.
But it’s not just steelworkers who face uncertainty.
A stone’s throw from the Port Talbot factory, which dominates the skyline of this part of the South Wales coast, Mandie Pugh runs a catering business built on the profession of its workers.
“I’ve been working here for 35 years, a long time, and I’m too young to retire,” she said.
‘Contractors, small businesses, from the greengrocer to the window cleaner, people will no longer be able to afford so much.
“My husband works in the steel mill, my son works in the control room of the blast furnace and is therefore unemployed. He recently had a baby and he and his partner are looking for a house. That got the job done.
It suggests that the approximately 2,000 jobs immediately lost at Tata sites in Wales could be joined by a further 3,000 jobs dependent on Tata for trade.
But he said the most “alarming” figures were on the impact of wages in Port Talbot.
The economics professor estimated that job cuts at Tata would lead to a 10% drop in the city’s gross revenue – £133 million a year.
If half of the supply companies were locally based, he estimated that the drop in profits would be 15% – more than £200 million.
‘That’s £200 million a year going out of the local economy until those people find new jobs or other work comes in.
“So I guess the question will be, what happens instead?
“We haven’t had an industrial strategy worthy of the name for forty years. We don’t seem to know where we want to go industrially, so it’s no surprise you don’t get there.
“I think more broadly, just like the miners strike and after that, this was the end of an era for the valleys, this is the end of an era for industrial South Wales.”
“It is heartbreaking to see any kind of job losses, but on this scale it is really quite shocking… the sector is crying out for a clear plan.”
Jess Ralston has investigated how countries across Europe are supporting the steel industry to modernise and reduce carbon emissions.
“The new economic reality is that the rest of the world is moving towards greener solutions and greener steel.”
She said Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands were “putting out feelers” for investment, but Britain was “standing on the sidelines waiting for the investment to come to them”.
“We only have one or two green steel projects in the pipeline, Europe has around 40 and it’s not just Europe: China, the US and the rest of the world are also looking at the future of steel. The UK can imagine cannot afford to stand still.”
Rajesh Nair, CEO of Tata Steel UK, said he knew how “painful” the move would be after 35 years in the industry.
“We are keeping money flowing, and it is not because of people’s lack of effort or because of the amount of money we have spent, but simply because we have some assets that are reaching the end of their lives.
“We are at a fork in the road today as a company… it’s now or never.”
Stuart Phillips, 43, has two daughters aged three and 18 and a mortgage.
“I’m probably looking for another 15 years of work, and the problem I have is that Tata Steel is all I’ve ever known.
“It’s pretty devastating.”
Image source, Stuart Phillips
Imported steel will still be rolled and if the £500 million deal with the current Conservative government is signed, a new electric arc furnace will be built on the site which will secure jobs.
Labor said it would offer a better deal, without giving details, and Plaid Cymru argued that Tata’s Port Talbot site should be nationalized to support a “just transition” to “green steel”.
The Liberal Democrats want a long-term vision for the steel industry, while the Reform Party said there was a risk the steelworks would fall victim to the ‘net zero vanity projects’.
The Green Party is calling for a green industrial strategy to create sustainable, green jobs.
Ms Ralston said it was the decisions of politicians – past, present and future – that would dictate the future of the industry.
“Tata is ultimately a multinational. If Britain doesn’t have a really good investment landscape, they don’t need to put it here.”