help needed to save our manufacturing.

A quick update, all of the port Kembla unions have for the past month been in negotiations and mediation in an effort to save the steelworks. We today voted to cut around 370 jobs and freeze our pay for 3 years, along with other restructure measures, which will save around 50-60 million. This was the target of bsl on the labour component of the 200million overall, 30 million was to come from payroll tax cut and the rest from other sources.
With the numbers to be cut from my department, less than 1/3 want to go so the others will be forced to either transfer, other areas have more who want to retire than can go, or be forced redundancy. There are going to be interesting times ahead.
A few quick points.
Both our CEO, O Malley and pollies from both sides and levels have massively underquoted the amount of steel the Govt use each year at "around 100,000 tons". A study that has just been completed by bismetal /gong uni for the first time ever puts the figure at 1.3to 1.5 million tons a year!
Further Bsl just lost an anti dumping case when the same case was run against the same company and products in both the USA and Canada they introduced tariffs from 20-90% on those dumped steel plate products. Meanwhile we do nothing.:(

So the workers are certainly making responsible and painful concessions. Its definitely in Australia's national interest to have a successful steel industry.

I'm closing this thread just for a short while because of the Political content starting to appear. Once this is sorted I'll reopen it as I don't want the whole thread to be moved to CA.

Ok, thread is open again. NO POLITICS HERE PLEASE - of any description or from any side or the whole thread will be moved to Current Affairs.

Here's a good article, with my picture in it!!!!!!:D Guess which ones me!
BlueScope Steel workers back ground-breaking deal | afr.com


Most of us (95%)voted yes to a pretty significant pay cut as well as a reduction of 500 total and changed work practices to try save the Illawarra from a loss of 8-10,000 jobs and 3billion out of our local economy.


P.s the fin review was a bit lazy, that pic was from our first vote to stop EBA negotiations and focus on the restructure, about a month ago.

Linky is to a subscription only article.... Only got a quick glance at it - you got a beard? :)

As a matter of interest, how does the technology in the mill compare to overseas,

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Originally Posted by AndyG

As a matter of interest, how does the technology in the mill compare to overseas,

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This is the killer eventually.

Being ex BHP Newcastle, we (the workforce, wages and staff) repeatedly met ever revised performance targets (costs, productivity etc.) which, over the years, the bean counters said was required to keep the place open.

You struggle on for years, you do keep going but it never generates the sort of money needed for sustainable plant renewal and so it all comes to a crunch somewhere along the line when the place just wears out - the capital investment required in the steel industry is huge.

After years of slog many of us were glad to see the place close and we could just move on. Good luck with it frantic, hope it pans out.

You have dc3 they have 707's, your buggered no matter what you do

More like you have 737s they have 747s, size is important.

Though in a funny way technology may be what rescues the joint if they can hang on long enough.

The age of iron making based on blast furnaces and the associated but very necessary sinter plants, pellet plants and coke ovens will end. People have been saying that since the 80's. It will be true one day because the cost drivers to perfect a single plant to replace all this gear is very attractive.

Shut down blast furnace, sinter plant and coke ovens, build one plant to replace the lot. Still going to need economies of scale though.