Republic Resumes will do whatever it can to help those workers who have been let go, like we did at Holden and before that at Mitsubishi. The story below is from the ABC.
Whyalla Steelworks Administrators KordaMentha have confirmed the loss of 500 jobs, cutting the workforce from 1,700 to 1,200, as the blast furnace permanently shuts down. Another 100 labour hire workers will also lose their jobs.
The South Australian and federal governments have announced a joint $10 million support package for hundreds of Whyalla workers who have lost their jobs as the steelworks’ blast furnace is permanently switched off today.
It follows a $2.4 billion city-saving package announced by the governments in February last year, with money set aside for the administrators and to pay back creditors of OneSteel. Funds were also earmarked for future upgrades of the plant.
The blast furnace has been offline since April and, despite the best efforts of workers, they have not been able to restart it. The coal-fired oven was used to melt iron ore into liquid pig iron, which was then turned into steel.
“If it comes to pass that there is a requirement for redundancies or whatever that looks like, you can rest assured that we’ll comply with our enterprise agreements, we’ll work with the unions, we’ll work with the state to manage that as best we can, “KordaMentha partner Sebastian Hams said in May.
Mr Hams addressed workers in the presence of the premier, Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis and local MP Eddie Hughes.
“We won’t be able to accommodate everyone,” Mr Hams said. “Our first option is redeployment, our second option is voluntary redundancy and then the third option is essentially forced redundancy.”
A letter distributed to workers and sighted by ABC News confirmed the bleak prognosis, stating that steelmaking would “cease” until “new steelworks assets are constructed using modern steelmaking technologies”.
“As a result of the closure and restructuring, some parts of the business will no longer exist, while others will have reduced employee numbers.
“There will be significantly fewer jobs available across the business. At this stage, we are anticipating potential impacts to approximately 500 employees and 100 labour hire workers.”
“It is no longer appropriate to place our people at risk in pursuit of a recovery that is no longer feasible,” it stated. “We have therefore decided to cease attempts to restart the blast furnace.”
Documents offering advice to workers who are set to lose their jobs are being circulated among the workforce, including training and financial advice and mental health support.
Two bidders, Jindal Steel and M Resources, remain in the running to buy the steelworks, but BlueScope Steel retains its right of last offer but it may take a year or two to get the steelworks operating again.
The SA government wrested control of the steelworks from Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance in early 2025, in an extraordinary series of measures including urgent changes to the Whyalla Steel Works Act, which were rushed through both houses of state parliament.
GFG was in crisis after failing to pay tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments to the government, and millions in unpaid bills to creditors.
The current situation is the latest in a long line of moments of turmoil in the history of the steelmaking city.
In 2016 another previous owner, Arrium, went into voluntary administration after reporting a half-year loss of $236 million, including a $43 million loss for the Whyalla steelworks due to falling steel prices in Asia.