Tata Steel reaches agreement with Dutch labor unions

Workers at Tata Steel's main plant in the Netherlands ended a three-week strike last Friday after the company said there would be no compulsory layoffs under a planned reorganization of its Dutch operations.

"We are pleased to announce we have reached an agreement with all unions involved," Tata Steel's Dutch division said in a statement. "The transformation program will not lead to forced redundancies at Tata Steel Netherlands."

The company did not say whether there would be a voluntary redundancy program but said it would now extend its current jobs pact for IJmuiden, which stipulates no forced layoffs, by five years until October 2026.

Workers at the IJmuiden plant went on strike on June 10 after unions said the company had outlined plans to scrap around 1,000 of the 9,000 jobs at the site as part of a reorganization of its European operations.

Under the agreement reached with unions, Tata also promised to invest in innovation and cleaner production technologies and not to quickly divest any part of its Dutch activities or to outsource work done in the Netherlands.

Tata is expected to present detailed plans for the future of IJmuiden by the end of September.

.Asian Metal Copyright "The transformation program will not lead to forced redundancies at Tata Steel Netherlands.Asian Metal Copyright