The fight will also shift part of its focus to Treasurer Joe Hockey, who South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris says has the power to impose ‘‘emergency safeguard tariffs’’ to protect the steel industry. 

More than 500 employees met with Australian Workers Union and SCLC representatives at Fairy Meadow’s Fraternity Club on Wednesday morning - the first gathering since BlueScope confirmed last week it must find $200 million in annual cost savings or the Port Kembla steelworks could close. 

BlueScope chief executive Paul O’Malley revealed on August 24 500 jobs would go as part of the company’s preferred cost-saving plan, Option A - a ‘‘game changing cost reduction’’ to keep the steelworks running.

‘‘Option B’’ would see the Port Kembla steelworks mothballed and the loss of about 5000 direct and indirect jobs.

Wednesday’s meeting resolved ‘‘do whatever is reasonable’’ to keep the Port Kembla steelworks open and viable. 

The AWU says it will enter a mediation process with management to identify productivity improvements and cost-saving measures across the business, to ensure cuts aren’t targeted at shop floor workers. 

Mr O’Malley told the Mercury last week management wouldn’t be immune to cuts, but work practices had to change.

‘‘One can't get $200 million out without exiting across the whole of the commodity steelmaking footprint about 500 jobs - that's from people who sell it to people who move it around,’’ Mr O’Malley said.

‘‘There’s going to be equal contribution and fair contribution by all stakeholders.’’

South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris told Wednesday’s meeting the steel industry was in an ‘‘emergency’’ situation and the clock was ticking, not just for workers and BlueScope but state and federal governments. 

‘‘We will not let them off the hook; they can’t hide until the time’s up,’’ Mr Rorris told the Mercury.

‘‘We now know that the treasurer of Australia has the executive power to impose emergency safeguard tariffs to protect the steel industry.

‘‘These are temporary in nature, designed for crises such as this where you have evidence of illegal dumping, in this case illegal dumping of steel.

‘‘The government has the power to act now and we demand that it acts now ... it doesn’t get any more serious than this.’’

Mr Rorris also reiterated the impacts to be felt beyond the mediation process and loss of 500 jobs.

‘‘At the end of the day, the biggest threat facing the steel industry in this country is the flood of illegally-dumped steel,’’ he told the meeting.

‘‘It is not just a crisis in Australian steelmaking, its a crisis in international steelmaking, let’s be very clear about that - this isn’t your problem, it’s the world’s problem now.’’

Mr Rorris said little had been heard from the government about what it would do to ‘‘shoulder some of that pain’’, including the introduction of a tariff on steel imports.

‘‘Ten thousand jobs and an ongoing recession; if that’s not an emergency requiring our politicians to act now what is?’’ he asked of the crowd.

‘‘Not only is no one talking about the T-word [tariff] which the rest of the world has done, they’re not even prepared to mandate the [use of Australian-made] steel.’’

THE RESOLUTION

Having heard a report on the future of the steel industry, this meeting of BlueScope steel industry union members, determines the following:

1.    We will do whatever is reasonable to keep the Port Kembla steelworks open and viable, providing decent jobs for future generations.

2.    We are committed to entering into a mediation process with management, with the aim of identifying productivity improvements and cost saving initiatives throughout all areas of the business.

3.    It is acknowledged that a number of job losses may occur during this process, but these losses should not just be targeted at shop floor members. Any restructure should include management roles as well.

4.    We support the suspension of bargaining and protected action during the mediation process.

5.    We call on the State and Federal Governments to do more to support the Port Kembla steelworks, through policy changes and new legislation including public procurement policies that puts Australian steel making jobs first.

6.    We call for this meeting to be reconvened in 4 weeks time to provide a report back to the membership on the status of the mediation process and other steelmaking issues.

Finally, this meeting notes the various defences being applied in numerous countries in an effort to protect their own steel industries, and call on our Governments to do likewise.

A further report on this issue will be provided at an upcoming public rally which will be held midday, Saturday 19 September 2015, in the Wollongong Mall.