The final piece of the Port Kembla steelworks jigsaw puzzle fell into place on Tuesday night with workers voting to accept their enterprise agreement.
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In secret ballot voting on Monday and Tuesday, steelworkers voted in favour of the revised agreement that included a pay freeze for three years, no bonuses for the same time frame.
The changes were part of the $200 million in cost savings that needed to be found to ensure the steelworkers remained open.
While the workers had agreed in principle to the enterprise agreement in a mass meeting in early October, they had to formally accept it in a vote.
If the workers rejected it, the steelworks would close – the BlueScope board had decided to keep Port Kembla open on the proviso it would be ratified.
That occurred, with the vote count taking place on Tuesday night.
Australian Workers Union Port Kembla Branch Secretary Wayne Phillips said he was glad the “yes” vote got up but admitted there was work that needed to be done.
“This was a vote to determine whether the steelworks stayed open or not, and I’m bloody relieved to see that the tough decision has been made to keep the local industry alive,” Mr Phillips said.
“But that is not to say that long-term threats don’t continue to loom on the horizon. This industry remains in a precarious position and it will continue to do so unless our governments take action.
"We really need the Baird Government to commit to building NSW infrastructure with Port Kembla steel.”
The government has agreed to defer $60 million in payroll tax but has not set any targets for the use of local steel in infrastructure projects.
Australian Workers’ Union National Secretary Scott McDine said the workers’ vote reflected their “bravery and far-sightedness”.
He said state and federal governments needed to do more to protect Australian steelmakers from dumping from foreign makers.
“We can’t afford to allow below-cost Chinese steel to be dumped into our market,” Mr McDine said.
“This is a fundamental threat to our industry and the federal government needs to step up its game and introduce more stringent anti-dumping measures, in line with other developed nations.
"There is more that can be done at the state level as well. The Andrews Government in Victoria has a local steel procurement policy for public infrastructure builds and there is no reason that the Baird Government should not immediately follow suit.”