UNCERTAINTY faces the steel workers of Port Kembla, in the heart of the Illawarra region of NSW.

The merger of BHP and the British resource giant Billiton could ultimately spell the end of thousands of mining and steel jobs inthe region, unions said yesterday.

The BHP steelworks is still the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere, but the workforce has been reduced to about 5800 from a high of 22,000 in the early 1980s.

The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union’s mining national president, Tony Maher, said the jobs of 1000 coal miners could be at risk. He called on BHP to clarify their situation. Mr Maher said that attempts to extract security-of-employment guarantees from thecompany had failed.

“If there is no threat to job security, come out and say so,” he said. “There is now massive uncertainty. BHP needs to clear this up.”

Mr Maher said many workers would be disappointed that another Australian icon was going overseas.

“BHP will no longer be the Big Australian,” he said.

“For the workers of Port Kembla, it is all very well to say you will `spin off’ the steel company, but that steel company is underpinned by four coalmines.

“And we don’t know if the coalmines are going with the steel company or whether they have to make their way on their own.”

Port Kembla branch secretary Andy Gillespie tried to assure his members that there were awards and legal instruments in place to protect their jobs, at least in the short term.

“Nothing will change tomorrow,” he said. “It is a question of the longer-term impact.”

National secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Doug Cameron condemned the merger as “another example of shareholder values coming before the interests of employees and the community and before Australia’s national interest”.

He said the merger raised concerns not just about jobs but the entire Australian manufacturing base.

Most workers enjoying a few beers after work in Port Kembla yesterday were unimpressed with BHP becoming a global resource company.

Plant operator Adam Moxon was resigned to the possibility of redundancy: “It has been a bit shaky around here for a while. Sure, I’m worried.”

Ironworker Jimmy Tanasovski said he believed there would be job losses.

“I’ll be doing more work for the same pay,” he said.

At the Port Kembla Leagues Club, a show begins on Thursday titled “What if they closed your steelworks”.

Manager Bruce Neaves expects business to drop as a result of the merger, just as it has for years.

Beer sales, at 25 kegs a week, are only an eighth of what they once were.

Trisha Bowden, a Port Kembla pharmacist and local Chamber of Commerce member, said sadly that she thought Port Kembla had gone down about as far as it could.

“When BHP has a sniffle, the rest of the economy gets a cold,” she said.

“We’ve been in a slump for so long.”