Engineering news
Thousands of steel workers at sites across the country are to go on strike in a long-running row over pensions.
Members of four trade unions working at Tata Steel will walk out for a day on 22 June, and will ban overtime and work to rule from the middle of next week.
The move follows votes in favour of strikes in protest at the closure of their final salary pension scheme.
About 13,000 workers are involved in the dispute, and the strike will be the first in the steel industry for 35 years.
Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community, said: "Tata have given us no option but take industrial action. The company has not shown any willingness to return to meaningful negotiations to find an end to this dispute. Our members are determined to stand up for their pensions.
"An overtime ban and work-to-rule will cause massive disruption to Tata's operations and severely limit production. The company could avoid this by returning to the table."
Paul Reuter, national officer at Unite, said: "We are still open to talks if Tata are prepared for meaningful discussions. We have offered Tata the savings it says it needs. But the company wants to close the scheme altogether. This is not acceptable to workers."
Dave Hulse, GMB national officer, said: "It's time Tata got back round the table and looked for a way to resolve this dispute. Our members are ready for industrial action and the company should heed the message that their workforce is delivering."
Nick Blundel, of Ucatt, said: "Tata should listen to its workforce and recognise that to resolve this dispute it needs to get back round the table with the unions for meaningful discussions. Industrial action is a last resort for any union but Tata has given us no choice."
At the end of last week, Tata Steel said that it would soon be announcing new measures which will lessen the impact of the proposed pension changes.
A spokesperson said: "We hope that these important changes to our proposals will be welcomed by employees and that the trade unions reconsider industrial action.
"At a time when the UK business as a whole continues to lose money and when key investments are needed to create a sustainable future for our business, we urge the unions and individual employees to think very carefully about the consequences of industrial action."
As of December 2014, the British Steel Pension Scheme had 143,000 members, with 17,004 making up employee members and 91,264 making up pensioner members - it has a predicted shortfall of £2 billion.