Career resilience workshops planned for workers in Saldanha Bay affected by winding down of ArcelorMittal steel plant

Career resilience workshops planned for workers in Saldanha Bay affected by winding down of ArcelorMittal steel plant

We are committed to supporting the workers affected and the Saldanha Bay community. To this end the Department of Economic Development and Tourism in collaboration with the Department of Local Government will be hosting career resilience outreach workshops from 09:00 – 15:00 on the 20 – 21 February at the White City Multipurpose Centre in Saldanha.

This is follows the announcement by ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) that the winding down of the steel works plant in Saldanha will be largely completed by the end of the first quarter of 2020, and that the large-scale employee reorganisation has been largely finalised and resulted in a reduction of employees.

Support staff at the workshops will provide advice on worker’s rights, financial planning, starting a business, re-training, applying for a new job and CV support.

The Department of Economic Development and Tourism has also created a guide to career resilience and unexpected job loss which is available on the Western Cape government website at https://www.westerncape.gov.za/general-publication/career-resilience-when-facing-unexpected-job-loss.

Following the first announcement by AMSA of their intention to wind down the plant in November last year we immediately established a task team consisting of government stakeholders such as the Saldanha Bay Municipality, the Saldanha Bay IDZ (SBIDZ), the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, the Department of Social Development and Wesgro with the purpose of mitigating the impact of a possible closure of the plant.

In addition to the career resilience outreach workshops, the task team have also engaged with SMMEs and individuals who were contracted to AMSA in Saldanha Bay to identify the extent of the impact of the plant closure on their business. A questionnaire was issued to these businesses, and the results are currently being reviewed to ascertain the level of support the require.

The task team will continue to be in frequent contact with all stakeholders invested in the success of Saldanha Bay and the West Coast region to minimise the impact of the AMSA plant closure, support the workers affected and continue to drive the growth of the economy and create jobs in the region.

Despite the setback of the plant closure we will work hard, together with the municipality and business stakeholders, to continue to grow other sectors in the regional economy.