A NSW state MP has called on BlueScope to use some of its multi-million profits announced this week to help retrain workers let go last year.
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But a spokesman for BlueScope said they had already developed retraining packages for those workers who took a redundancy.
On Monday the steelmaker announced it had more than doubled its profits to $354 million – a jump of 160 per cent.
Part of that improvement in the bottom line came from the 500 workers who left the company as part of Plan A, a cost-cutting program aimed at keeping the steelworks open.
During Thursday’s parliamentary debate on the Greens bill to mandate 90 per cent Australian steel in NSW government infrastructure projects, Christian Democrats MP Paul Green said BlueScope should be diverting some of that profit to retrenched workers.
“It has been indicated that 500 people are going to lose their jobs,” Mr Green said.
“Put some of that money back into retraining, upskilling or new opportunities that could exist for some of those workers.
“We implore BlueScope Steel to think critically about not simply putting that profit back into their pockets but to put it towards making their industry stronger than it was and stronger than it is at the moment.”
A spokesman for BlueScope said that a large proportion of those who left opted to take a voluntary redundancy and that many of those took early retirement.
For those looking for work, the spokesman said some were redeployed into new areas of the steelworks while the company developed retraining packages with federal and state government assistance.
The spokesman said those ex-employees had been contacted regularly to tell them of retraining opportunities.
The spokesman also said the company was instituting a profit-share arrangement for all staff.
The profit-share would not involve any profit made during the 2016-17 financial year.