Tata Steel workers today voted in favour of "industrial action" against the firm over the pension row, which the company termed as "disappointing".
Company workers who are members of unions Community, GMB and UCATT today voted in favour of "industrial action" against the firm's proposal to scrap the British Steel Pension Scheme.
"The result of pension ballots announced earlier today is disappointing given the company is proposing to continue providing employees with highly attractive and competitive pensions," a Tata Steel spokesperson said.
Despite most final salary pension schemes have been closed, the firm originally proposed to maintain final salary pension provision but it was rejected by the unions, he added.
"The shortfall of up to 2 billion pounds (about USD 3.1 billion) faced by the pension scheme is not the fault of the company or its employees, but it can only be addressed if the company and its employees work together," he said.
The company has already stated to both the trade unions and employees, in response to the feedback received through the consultation process, that it intends to mitigate the impact of the proposed changes, the spokesperson added.
"We remain hopeful that employees will see that these proposals and the mitigations represent the most fair and balanced way of dealing with the deficit.
"We also remain hopeful that employees will avoid taking any action that damages our objective of building a successful and sustainable UK business capable of supporting a secure pension scheme," he said.
"Members of Community, the biggest union in Tata Steel, have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action," Community said in a statement.
The ballot was in relation to a dispute over Tata Steel's proposal to close the BSPS, it added.
Members from two other unions GMB and UCATT also voted in favour of the industrial action.
"Community is calling for Tata Steel to return to the negotiating table to seek a way to end the dispute," it said.
In total 88 per cent members voted in favour of a strike action, the union said, adding that the average turnout was over 76 per cent and was as high as 84 per cent at Tata Steel's works in Port Talbot, where 96 per cent of members voted for strike action.
The combined vote in favour of other forms of industrial action was 96 per cent, it added.
"Over 6,000 Community members were balloted across all Tata Steel UK sites. Results of ballots by GMB and UCATT members at Tata Steel are also expected today. The ballot of Unite members closes on June 5," Community said.
Industrial action ballot of nearly 17,000 workers was sought by unions to decide between strike, lock-out or action short of a strike based on the majority view of the employees.
