HUNDREDS of Tata Steel workers are to get a boost in their pay packets before the proposed sale to Thai steel firm Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) is finalised.

The steelworkers union Community has negotiated an annual 3.2 per cent pay rise for staff redeployed to other parts of the business after the blast furnace was mothballed last April.

The pay of redeployed workers did not change when the pay rise for 2009-10 was agreed, explained Community’s national officer Roy Rickhuss.

He added: “Their basic rate was increased but their redeployment benefit was cut.

“Tata Steel held that they had applied the redeployment agreement correctly, but we argued that as the anniversary date was April 1, any member redeployed after this date should receive the pay award.

“If this hadn’t been pursued by Community, hundreds of workers across Teesside would have lost out.”

The company has told union bosses they are aiming to get the payment in February’s pay packets but this has not been guaranteed.

The payment is not dependent on the completion of the sale of Teesside Cast Products to SSI.

Negotiations over the proposed deal are expected to conclude shortly.

Earlier this month, Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of SSI, said that he aimed to get the plant producing steel again by September at the latest.

SSI plans to produce 3.5 million tonnes of slab steel from the TCP plant once it is at full capacity and export it all to Thailand.

Previously, about four fifths of the site’s output was shipped to Europe, South America and Korea. SSI also intends to add at least 800 staff to TCP’s current workforce of about 700.

In the meantime, SSI has reported almost a doubling in its profits, buoyed by a resurgent global steel market. According to a recent report by UK Steel, steel production increased by almost a quarter in the UK last year, following a worldwide recovery.

SSI generated net profits of about £500m in the year to December 31, as revenues rose by 43.7 per cent year-on-year to about £1bn.