The ongoing crisis in the steel industry has been the priority of UK Business Secretary Sajid Javid. Javid has been trying to secure deals that would save thousands of jobs at the Tata Scunthorpe plant.
According to the Economic Times, the Tata Scunthorpe plant will reach its deal as early as Monday. The business secretary has high hopes that he will be able to save the company that has been up for sale on the market since the year 2014.
As reported by BBC, Tata Steel directly employs 15,000 workers in the UK with plants in Rotherham, Corby, Port Talbot and Shotton and also supports thousands of other jobs. The secretary is also expected to give an update on the progress of the status of its buyer and the rest of Tata's UK operation.
A series of meetings with a number of potential buyers has been carried out by Javid. These meetings include the executive chairman of Liberty House, Sanjeev Gupta. Javid also had a meeting with Tata's chairman, Cyrus Mistry, after knowing that the company is losing 2.5 million pounds a day, as per The Guardian.
The general secretary of the Community union, Roy Rickhuss, is still positive that a possible sale will happen and that the steel company is still considered a good business. During the meeting with the MP's, 13 steel workers who represent 13 plants of Tata will go to Westminster to lobby parliament. The MP for Talbot, Stephen Kinnock, is hoping that they can address the workers' concern in a meeting with the Parliamentary Labour party.
The MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, Stephen Doughty, however, is adamant that Javid will be able to present substantial issues and information on the table to help save the steel industry. Doughty said that Javid has not secured any real commitments in the past. He added that they need a solid action against increasing energy prices, Chinese dumping, and other documents as well as an immediate action to save jobs at the Tata plant.
On the other hand, Gupta said in an interview that he is not sold out with the idea of acquiring the Tata plant. He said he could still walk away from the deal. He added that he is not willing to take any chances if the losses will sustain as this is not his business model.
