Monday’s round-table heard plenty of suggestions with the region’s long-term future in mind, but the Australian Workers Union and South Coast Labour Council say urgent action is needed within weeks.  

‘‘Otherwise we’re not going to have an industry to save,’’ AWU Port Kembla branch secretary Wayne Phillips said.

‘‘My members are facing the chop in the next five weeks, our contractors are facing the chop probably in the next six weeks ... we need something now.

‘‘It [future planning] is all good, but it doesn’t help someone who gets the sack in five weeks’ time to know that in a year or two they can do a bit of training.’’

Retraining talks, coupled with no immediate assistance announcements means the fight to keep the Port Kembla steelworks open continues.

Mr Phillips said the AWU would ‘‘take the hard steps’’ to achieve about $50 million in savings from labour on the job, but hoped ‘‘everybody else pulls their finger out and does their part as well’’.

‘‘Our people are losing their jobs.We’ve currently got about 100, 110 tapped on the shoulder knowing that in the next four or five, six weeks they’re going to be unemployed,’’ he said.

Questioned if his members would be willing to take a pay cut, even if it meant a choice between the steelworks closing or not, Mr Phillips’ answer was blunt: ‘‘no’’.

‘‘Taking a pay cut’s not going to resolve the problem, simple as that,’’ he said. 

One of the union’s proposed measures includes the implementation of industry-saving tariffs, which SCLC secretary Arthur Rorris said were yet to be ruled out by Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane.

‘‘The minister assured us both the short-term measures, in terms of emergency safeguards and changes to procurement policy, are under consideration - they were his words,’’ Mr Rorris said. 

‘‘Whilst the discussion about the general future of the region and planning for other things is important, it’s not going to save our steel industry.’’