Around 3,000 steelworker jobs are in limbo after Tata Steel withdrew an advertisement at the last minute.
Tata was expected to confirm cuts at the UK’s largest steelworks in Port Talbot yesterday.
But the announcement was canceled by the company’s Indian owner, Tata Group, after a board meeting, a move that took workers and unions by surprise.
Staff did not know the reason for the delay or when to expect an update.
It comes weeks after ministers agreed a £500m deal to rescue the south Wales steelworks from closure and fund its transition to green energy.
Jobs threat: Tata was expected to confirm cuts at the UK’s largest steelworks in Port Talbot yesterday.
In September, the Government said its investment would safeguard around 5,000 of Tata Steel’s 8,000 UK jobs, leaving 3,000 at risk.
Unions welcomed the delay as an opportunity to reduce layoffs. They previously warned the deal would “rip the heart out” of the south Wales community.
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB national officer, said the union was working hard “to deliver a viable and reasonable alternative that safeguards jobs and creates a genuinely just transition”.
Tata Group will invest £750m in a deal with the Government to create a greener alternative in Port Talbot.
The funding, worth a total of £1.25 billion, will replace coal-fired blast furnaces with an electric alternative.
