00:02Sunrise at the Steelworks marks the end of the night shift and today the end of an era for
00:07furnace worker Barry Drage, clocking off for the last time after two decades at the plant.
00:14A little bit of a twangling on the heartstrings. I suppose it's part of life,
00:18things are always changing. At 58 he's taken a redundancy but he's unsure what his next move
00:25will be and fears he could be forced to leave his home to find work. I've always felt more at
00:31home
00:32on Eyre Peninsula than anywhere but if I've got to go to Adelaide well so be it, do what I've
00:37got to do.
00:38He's one of about 250 workers who will finish up over the next two weeks but hundreds more than
00:43that will need to go after the site's blast furnace was shut down for good last month.
00:48It's going to hurt the town economy for sure and with that the spirit will go down a little bit,
00:57hopefully not for long. How long partly dependent on the plans of a new buyer for the Steelworks
01:03set to be confirmed by Christmas after it was plunged into administration last year.
01:08It seems to be dragging on a little bit now and people in the town are getting a bit sick
01:12of that.
01:13Making matters worse for workers here, a payroll issue in recent weeks has meant
01:17some workers haven't been properly paid. Administrator Cordementha says it's working
01:22to fix the problem. The Administrator has been told with no uncertain terms
01:26that are at our displeasure at this and we want it rectified and rectified immediately.
01:30More upheaval amid uncertain times for the Steel City.
