UPDATE: 4.45pm

A spokesman from Tata Steel said in relation to the results of the ballot: "The result of the pension ballots announced earlier today is disappointing given the company is proposing to continue providing employees with highly attractive and competitive pensions.

"Despite most final salary pension schemes having been closed, the company originally proposed to maintain final salary pension provision, but the company's proposal was rejected by the unions.

"The shortfall of up to £2 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.

"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.

"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."

UPDATE: 4.05pm

MEMBERS of the biggest trade union representing workers at Newport's Llanwern steel plant have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in a dispute over the company’s proposal to close the British Steel Pension Scheme

Trade union Community is calling for Tata to return to the negotiating table to seek a way to end the dispute.

In total 88 per cent of those voting voted for strike action. The average turnout was over 76 per cent and 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.

Roy Rickhuss, General Secretary of Community and Chair of the National Steel Trade Union Co-ordinating Committee, said:

“We stand on the brink of the first national strike in the steel industry for over 30 years. This is not where we wanted to be but Tata now has an opportunity to end this dispute by removing the threat of scheme closure and discussing alternative measures to resolve the challenges faced by the scheme, something the unions have been prepared to do since November last year. Throughout those discussions, the company said it needed to address a deficit of just under £1 billion and the unions were prepared to look at measures that would have wiped that out, without closing the scheme.

He added that Community's members had now spoken "loud and clear".

The members of Community’s National Executive Council who work for Tata Steel will meet on Monday to discuss the next steps towards strike action.

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UNIONS representing workers at Newport's Llanwern steel plant are closing their ballots today on whether industrial action should be taken over Tata Steel’s plans to end the British Steel pension scheme (BSPS).

As consultation comes to an end, the head of Tata Steel’s European operations has written an open letter to employees urging them not to support industrial action to retain “unaffordable early retirement benefits”.

Chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations Karl Koehler has claimed the company’s actions have been “aimed at developing an affordable and sustainable pension scheme through changes that are fair and balanced”.

Steel unions Community, GMB and Ucatt’s ballots end today but Unite’s, which represents 6,000 workers, will end on June 5.

At present, workers can retire at the age of 60 without an actuarial reduction.

The company’s view is that they should now work until the age of 65 for a full pension. If they were to retire at age 60 then, they would lose five per cent for each year of early retirement – 25 per cent in total.

Chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations Karl Koehler said in his letter to employees: “The past few years have seen the UK – and most of the world – go through the worst financial crisis for generations.

“One of the consequences has been record low interest rates. And like savings in the bank, our pension scheme’s assets have not been growing fast enough to keep up with increases in the expected cost of providing benefits. The result has been a huge shortfall of up to £2 billion which is clearly not sustainable.

“We as a business, like many others, are faced with some difficult choices.

“The changes we’ve proposed to our UK pension scheme will help protect the benefits colleagues have already earned. They will also, crucially, ensure a good pension for our people in the future which is both affordable and sustainable.

“The unions continue to insist on keeping unaffordable early retirement enhancements in the pension scheme which would favour our older colleagues - but would be to the detriment of younger members of the team. I believe the unions’ proposals would be unfair and unbalanced.”

Mr Koehler said the company has been unable to agree on a way forward with the unions but said it is open to talks and further negotiations.

“I understand and recognise colleagues’ frustrations at this situation,” he added. “But I would ask them not to support industrial action to retain unaffordable early retirement benefits. Ultimately, such action would be self-defeating and would jeopardise our efforts to build a sustainable business in the UK.

“I hope the pension consultations of recent weeks will result in a fair and sustainable future for all members of our talented and skilled team, inspiring the next generation to consider a lifelong and proud career in one of Britain’s ‘foundation’ industries.”