Bluescope workers prefer 500 job cuts over 5,000 job losses at Port Kembla plant

Bluescope has announced signing a Memorandum of Agreement with the Australian Workers Unions and Port Kembla workers on Thursday through which the workers agreed to sacrifice 500 jobs at Port Kembla plant to save 5,000 colleagues.

Bluescope steel has witnessed severe financial difficulties for the past few years due to its diminishing steel demand and cheaper production. With the cooperation the workers showed by agreeing to the union-devised plan, the steel manufacturer seemed to have taken a sigh of relief.

In August, Bluescope’s chief executive Paul O’Malley launched a review into the Port Kembla operations, which announced a cost-cutting target worth AU$200 million for that particular plant and advocated loss of about 500 jobs to make sure their plants survived the difficult situation. The agreement of the workers in the job-cutting decision of the company has not prevented the closure of the Port Kembla plant completely. The final decision still rests with Bluescope.

The unions said that they knew it is a “filthy rotten package,” but they are still supporting the plan to make sure the plant does not shut down and affect the whole community. In the meeting, the workers were asked to either vote “yes” or opt for “see you in the dole queue.”

Workers agreed they were selling themselves. “It’s a dog’s breakfast but it’s not about us and our jobs it’s about the community,” one of the workers told the ABC .

“Today was a vote as to whether or not the steelworks stay open or whether it shuts. It is a tough moment, no doubt, but I’m at least satisfied that workers have voted to fight another day,’’ AWU Port Kembla secretary Wayne Phillips said last month via the Daily Telegraph when the company decided to cut costs as well as jobs.

Recently, Gina Rinehart’s mining company GVK Hancock also suffered from the threat of job losses after it received a notice for legal action from the Queensland Court of Appeal. In September, however, the Supreme Court reinstated the earlier verdict put forth by Land Court, which supported the Alpha coal mine project and allowed it to proceed with certain conditions.

The Gina coal mine case of violating environmental policies will now be presented in the Queensland Court of Appeal in front of three judges.

Rinehart’s ambitious Roy Hill mine also went through difficult labour decision earlier in 2015 when it slashed the salary of the employees, especially those who held higher management positions to ensure the survival of the company through the dark.

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