Newcastle steel industry loses 230 jobs

The completion of the merger between OneSteel and Smorgon Steel has resulted in the loss of 230 Newcastle jobs, due to company restructuring.

Australian Tube Mills (ATM), steel pipe and tube product manufacturer and originally part of Smorgon Steel, announced on Friday it was shutting two of its three mills in Mayfield and the hot dipped galvanizing facility at the Newcastle site.

Around 50 employees will be reemployed at other sites in NSW and Victoria, leaving 180 people out of work.

The company's general manager for corporate development and sustainability, Mark Gell, said the restructure followed a review of operations undertaken in March.

"It's a decision we have to make; it's a hard decision we have to make," he told reporters.

"But, the reality is, we want to build a long-term sustainable business ... occasionally we have to make hard decisions to get the business on a competitive footing."

Gell said the company would offer a redundancy package of four weeks' salary as well as other services including helping redundant workers to find other employment.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) said rumours that the merger would result in significant job losses had been around for months.

"What we are seeing today is not only a devastating blow to the Hunter Valley but beyond that to the entire Australian steel industry and our export market," AMWU official Steve Murphy said.

"The federal government needs to immediately step in to provide support to the workers and families who lose their incomes."