steelworker
A steelworker places scrap metal inside a furnace at the Libyan Iron and Steel Company (Lisco) in Misrata, Libya May 18, 2015. Libyan steelmaker Lisco is struggling to keep its mill rolling in a war zone, no easy feat when the power cuts off every night, shippers are reluctant to dock and foreign contractors are long gone. Picture taken May 18, 2015. Reuters/Ismail Zitouny

Bluescope has decided to drop its plan of closing the Port Kembla steel plant after the New South Wales government agreed to defer payroll tax worth $60 million for the coming three years. However, after the three years’ period is over, the company will be required to pay the full deferment until ten years, starting from 2020.

In early October, the workers voted for loss of 500 jobs over the rest of the 4,500 employees to make sure the company does not advocate the plant’s closure. The steel giant has already cut the cost of labour by $60 million in a year by cutting 500 jobs and freezing significant payment. The company appreciated its employees’ contribution and said that it was because of the employees, the unions and the NSW Government that it managed to bring down the labour and production costs.

The approval to the agreement was a crucial step towards deciding on keeping the plant open. “The arrangement we have struck demonstrates the government’s clear support for our employees, our business and the Illawarra, and it has been a key component in the board’s decision to keep the steelworker’s open,” Bluescope’s chairman Graham Kraehe said on Monday.

Kraehe also confirmed that the Mike Baird government has also claimed to reduce other charges, including the three-year deferment exemption agreement awaiting approval. The steel maker aims at achieving $200 million by 2017 so far as operational savings was concerned.

The three-year enterprise agreement has indicated the government’s turn on securing Illawarra’s future by giving Bluescope one chance to stand up again, NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday. She added that the steps taken by the government will prove helpful in maintenance of Port Kembla operations to live up to the expectations of the global steel market.

“I wanted to make it very clear that this was a specific package given the unique situation Bluescope finds itself in, and given the unique number and scale of jobs at risk – we’re talking 4,500 jobs,” The Guardian quoted Berejiklian saying.

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