NSW:1000 steel jobs cut in NSW and Vic

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2011
NSW:1000 steel jobs cut in NSW and Vic

About one thousand jobs will be cut from the Australian steel sector today, as BlueScope
Steel announces the closure of one of the nation's three remaining blast furnaces.

Media reports say about 800 BlueScope Steel jobs will be axed in NSW and 200 in Victoria
as the rising Australian dollar and surging raw materials prices affect the steel-making
sector.

The company will close its No 6 blast furnace at Port Kembla near Wollongong south
of Sydney and the Western Port hot strip mill at Hastings east of Melbourne.

The federal government is expected to announce an assistance package for workers being
laid off and other short-term measures.

AAP RTV lxs/psm/

KEYWORD: BLUESCOPE (SYDNEY)

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