Tata steelworkers prepare to strike as gloom descends on Port Talbot again

Around 17,000 workers across the UK will stage walkout over pensions on 22 June, with 4,000 people employed at the plant in the south Wales town

Plumes of dark smoke spiral from the chimney stacks sticking out of the grey dirt around Port Talbot docks. It is not a pretty sight, but this industrial mess of blast furnaces, warehouses and cooling towers has been at the centre of modern steelmaking in these parts since 1902.

This south Wales town, like the British steel industry, has seen better days. But things are about to take a new turn for the worse. On Monday 22 June, around 17,000 workers at Tata Steel plants across the country will bring Britain's steel industry to a halt with the first national strike for 35 years.

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