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Sacked steelworkers, we will not abandon you

22 Aug 11:25am

Filed under: Industry, Job Security, Jobs, Manufacturing, Steel

Alongside coal, steelmaking has dominated the Illawarra economy for the better part of a century. The industrial landscape of Port Kembla continues to define the lives of the people that work and live in its shadow, the people that I represent in the federal electorate of Throsby.

Dark days ahead for the Bluescope plant at Port Kembla

When I left high school in the early eighties, the Steelers NRL team was still running around in the top flight (before merging with St George), and many of my mates took up apprenticeships with the company that sponsored the famous scarlet jersey, BHP Steel.

We were a steel city, a proud working-class town, just like our sister city of Newcastle. In many respects we still are. But just like Newcastle and in the other manufacturing regions around Australia at that time, the ground was already shifting under our feet.

Continue reading "Sacked steelworkers, we will not abandon you" »

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acotrel says:

03:32pm | 23/08/11

Aren’t BHP Billiton and Bluescope Steel effectively the same enitity? Perhaps if BHP had put something back into their Australian steel manufacturing to improve quality and efficiency, and thus competitiveness they’d have been in a better moral position to resist the Resources Rent Tax ? Have they left Australia workers… Read more »
RyaN says:

03:06pm | 23/08/11

Here is a question that has been floating around in my head with regards to the top polluters moving their operations offshore as predicted. If these companies move their operations offshore before the carbon tax kicks in next year does that mean they will still receive the promised compensation if… Read more »

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