Decades of sparring between BlueScope Steel and the Australian Workers' Union are being pushed aside as attempts are made to save thousands of jobs at the Port Kembla steelworks.
Unprecedented measures are being approved by the union and BlueScope to avoid job cuts, including allowing employees to complete tasks not normally their responsibility - such as cleaning - during lulls in production.
The Mercury has also learned of a new initiative by the union's Port Kembla branch, which has asked dozens of Illawarra companies, including BlueScope, to sign a memorandum of understanding outlining the unfamiliar tasks workers are prepared to do during the downturn in return for a commitment that normal staff levels and responsibilities will be reapplied when the economy picks up.
Branch secretary Andy Gillespie, who has been a fierce critic of BlueScope and its predecessor BHP, said the union's at-times bitter relationship with the employer had improved in the past year.
"It's a bit of a credit to the company that they've taken the initiative ... and they haven't put anybody off," Mr Gillespie said.
"By the same token the union and its members have worked through these issues; we've recognised the company is in some hard times and we've done some things that we wouldn't normally do."
Examples include workers manually cleaning mechanical equipment during down periods, working in other departments and completing more menial tasks - what the union calls "working down instead of working up".
Mr Gillespie said his challenge was to also protect the interests of contractors - some who have taken a hit due to the crisis - and to ensure role-shifting endured only while steel demand was low.
"There's always areas of disagreement ... but I would say the company's industrial relations and attitude have improved over the past 12 months.
"We've just gone two weeks without being in the (Industrial Relations Commission) so that's somewhat of a record."
BlueScope Steel yesterday listed the "range of measures" it has taken in a "deliberate effort to protect jobs and the long-term future of our business during the global financial crisis".
These include asking staff and wages employees to take some of their accrued annual and long-service leave, cutting back on discretionary spending not related to safety, idling the plant and equipment during the Christmas and Easter periods in response to reduced orders and cutting back on travel and non-essential activities.
"Employees are now doing some tasks previously done by contractors," a spokesman said.
"We have been most appreciative of the way our employees have responded to these initiatives."
On his visit to Wollongong to promote a steel survival plan, to be released tomorrow, Australian Workers' Union national secretary Paul Howes also praised how BlueScope, the union and Illawarra federal MPs had been working behind the scenes to save jobs.
"On this question of how BlueScope have reacted with the jobs, the company should be congratulated for the way they have handled this crisis thus far," he said.
"We represent 135,000 working men and women across a range of industries and in the manufacturing industry alone we have had many companies that have taken the knee-jerk reaction of asking for pay cuts and pay freezes and laying off staff straight away.
"In the steel sector the companies have been quite responsible in the way they have handled this crisis - they haven't asked for pay cuts, they haven't started with mass redundancies.
"I dont want to get to a situation where we see mass lay-offs at the steelworks."
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