British workers at Tata Steel's biggest union vote to strike

By Eric Onstad

LONDON (Reuters) - Tata Steel UK's biggest trade union voted on Friday to go on strike, setting the scene for the biggest labour action in the British steel sector in three decades.

Members of the trade union Community voted 88 percent in favour of going on strike, a statement said.

The union members are locked in a dispute with the company about its proposal to change their pension scheme.

"Steelworkers are determined to stand up to Tata," said Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of Community.

"We stand on the brink of the first national strike in the steel industry for over 30 years," said Rickhuss, also chair of the National Trade Union Steel Co-ordinating Committee.

The union, which did not give a date for a strike, said it was calling for Tata to return to negotiations.

Unions have been balloting some 17,000 members for industrial action. Results from the GMB and UCATT unions were expected later on Friday while a ballot by Unite is due to close next Friday.

Tata Steel did not have any immediate comment about the vote, but previously has said that its actions were aimed at developing an affordable and sustainable pension scheme through changes that were balanced and fair.

An open letter to employees released earlier on Friday said Tata's UK operations as a whole were still losing money and that the pension scheme had a shortfall of up to 2 billion pounds.Profitability in Britain's steel sector has become difficult due to cheap imports and sluggish demand, which has yet to recover to pre-2008 levels.

The UK steel sector's labour, logistics and energy costs are higher even than mainland Europe, which itself struggles to compete globally.

The company's parent, Tata Steel Ltd, posted a $889 million quarterly loss on May 20, inflated by a hefty impairment on its UK business.

(Reporting by Eric Onstad. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)