Simon O’Connor has worked at Bluescope’s Port Kembla plant for 28 years.

A volunteer firefighter and a cub scout leader, the job underpins a rich family and community life. 

But now, with 500 job cuts to hit the steelworks, everything is uncertain.

When the redundancies come, Mr O’Connor expects a glut of similarly skilled workers to join the Illawarra’s already over-subscribed ranks of unemployed.

If he is among them, he is unlikely to find work in Wollongong and will be forced to look further afield, even if it means moving. 

“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do for your family,” Mr O’Connor, a maintenance strategist, said.

Mr O’Connor, his wife Jenny and their two sons were among an estimated 1500 people at Saturday’s Save Our Steel rally.

As union heads got behind the microphone and pulled cheers and jeers from the crowd, Mr O’Connor hoisted his 10-year-old son Jaryn onto his shoulders in a show of the human element at stake if a campaign to find a future for the steelworks fails.

The family came to show support, and to see it reflected back at them.

“There’s a lot of people from the industry here, and there’s a lot of people that don’t work in the industry that are here to support us,” Mr O’Connor said. 

“It is heartening to see.”

Mr O’Connor supports a union-led push for governments to mandate the use of Australian steel in public infrastructure.

He suggests the mandate could go further still.

“We should be using local components across the board - anything Australian - because those manufacturers buy Australian steel.”

Within the steelworks, workers are hungry for information.

Every day now there are new tidbits on where and when the job cuts will land. 

“There’s talk of an announcement in November,” Mr O’Connor said.

“But November will probably come and go. The last thing you want is a late-December announcement – that would be a nice Christmas present.”

Jenny O’Connor is remaining practical in the face of the uncertainty. 

The rally was something she could do to help, when so much else remains out of her control.

“We know that we’ve just got to hold it together as much as we can and protect the children from the stress of it all,” she said.

“It’s something a lot of families are going through.”

And if the worst should happen?

“We just have to think creatively. The workers have got a lot of skills that they can use. If that means moving, then that means moving.”