As many as 500 workers in hi-vis yellow and blue streamed into the Port Kembla Leagues Club to vote on a new enterprise agreement.

Not all of them were happy - some felt the sick leave provisions didn't go far enough, others felt the pay rise wasn't big enough, others just didn't want staff members doing their job.

But in the end the vote to accept the in principle agreement was passed overwhelmingly.

And for Australian Workers' Union national secretary Daniel Walton, a bit of vocal opposition wasn't surprising.

"We always expect steelworkers so be a bit angry," Mr Walton said.

"You don't really turn up to the these mass meetings and have everyone pay you on the back and stroke you on the head and say 'great job'.

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"We expect people to get a little aggro and tell us what they really think. They’re not shy in coming forward.

"And that happened, we went at it for well over an hour and a half for the meeting."

The deal includes an 11 per cent pay rise over three years, participation in the profit share plan and the return of weekend penalties for sick leave.

The last item was a contentious issue. That condition had been given up in the 2015 steel crisis and workers were keen to get back much of what they had given up four years ago to save the steelworks.

"People would ideally like the sick leave provisions to come back without any strings attached," Mr Walton said.

"It's obviously been a big bugbear for people since 2015. Working weekend and public holidays as shift workers do every single week, losing penalty rates on that was a massive pain for their hip pocket.

"We're now going to be able to get that back in place. But we need to keep an eye on it to make sure that use of sick leave doesn’t skyrocket."

The deal will place a cap on absenteeism; passing the cap means penalty rates for sick leave are removed until the rate falls under the cap.

The new deal also covers both the steelworks and the Springhill plant (where Colorbond is made).

Previously they were under separate agreements.

BlueScope's general manager of manufacturing Dave Bell said the company was "pleased" with Tuesday's vote.

"We believe the combination of locking in pay rises for the next three years as well as sharing in BlueScope’s profits via our Profit Share Plan, is a great outcome for everyone involved," Mr Bell said.

"We now look forward to formalising the vote in the coming weeks and focusing on making great quality Australian steel products.”