GFG Alliance cuts 48 jobs at Whyalla steelworks, as contractors say they are owed tens of thousands of dollars

ABC NEWS (Australia)

GFG Alliance has axed dozens of jobs at the Whyalla steelworks. The company has attributed the job losses to an extended downturn in the steel market globally.

Transcript

00:0048 workers were delivered the devastating news today, their jobs at the wireless steelworks

00:07were gone.

00:08Owner GFG Alliance blaming a prolonged downturn in global steel market conditions, saying

00:14we are taking efficiency steps to reduce our fixed costs.

00:18That will result in a small number of non-frontline staff adjustments.

00:21It is not good news for the community or the steelworks.

00:26They did advise us that those 48 redundancies are from the staff, they're not front line

00:31or blue collar workers.

00:32GFG says the cuts do not affect its steel making.

00:35The unions will meet with the company in the coming week to discuss the situation.

00:40There's a lot of anxious workers at GFG at the moment, they're anxious about their future,

00:45they're anxious about the security of the steelworks into the future.

00:49On Wednesday the ABC revealed several contractors to the steelworks are owed tens of thousands

00:54of dollars by GFG Alliance, according to multiple sources.

00:57In response to that story, GFG said it is working through the steel market downturn

01:02with its employees and contractors.

01:04Speaking before today's job losses were announced, the Premier said he hoped the debts can be

01:09quickly resolved.

01:10There have been a number of instances in the past where contractors and suppliers feel

01:14as though they haven't been paid on time by GFG.

01:17The advice we've received is that those incidents have generally speaking been rectified.

01:23We hope that is what can occur here.

01:25The global slump in steel prices this year has coincided with a major blast furnace malfunction

01:31that knocked the steelworks offline from mid-March to early July.

01:34Everybody would know that GFG would have lost tens of millions of dollars during the blast

01:40furnace closure and that has affected their production.

01:45GFG maintains it's still committed to transitioning the plant to making green iron and steel.

01:53For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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