CRAIG Brown has clocked in at Molycop's Waratah steel-making site for almost 28 years, now at 56 he's staring down the barrel of unemployment and financial uncertainty in a cost of living crisis.
The Australian Workers' Union delegate said the news Molycop would cease its steel-making operations and cut 240 jobs came as a complete shock.
"I think a lot of us are still processing it," he said.
"We're an older workforce and we're in the position at the moment where a lot of blokes will probably just retire.
"But I'm 56 and a lot of us around the same age are in that predicament of being too young to retire but too old to get another job."
Workers came in for their shift this morning when they were met with the news that a lot of them wouldn't have jobs next year.
He said the next shift coming in at 5:30pm were going to be told about the redundancies this evening.
"It's a bit of a shock," he said.
"There was talk about roster changes, maybe dropping hours in steel-making and an entire crew out of the Bar Mill, but this came completely out of the blue.
"It's daunting, some blokes have been there for more than 30 years so it will be hard for them knowing they won't be coming back after Christmas - a lot of people still have mortgages, some still rent and we don't know whether there will be any jobs that will take us on at an older age."
Robert Croak has worked there for two decades, there's a chance he could keep his job but he isn't sure.
"Everyone's a little stressed about it, we've all got mortgages, we're all trying to put food on the table," he said.
While Jye Bryant, who has been there for five years, will lose his job in January, right after Christmas.
"This puts an end to to Newcastle as the steel city," he said.
"I've lost my job, my job's canned. What do you do? You can't fight it."
Mr Brown said there are roughly 20 apprentices who work at the Waratah site and it's unclear what the company's plan is for them, however he said Comsteel, now Molycop have always had a strong apprentice program.
As far as the company's handling of the news, he said while it came as a surprise to workers, management had been open and honest in answering staff questions about the situation.
"It's still something that nobody expected," he said.
"As a union, we'll make sure the company does the right thing, they've said they will assist in retraining and financial advice and if anyone needs to talk there is a counsellor on site for the next couple of days."
Mr Brown said it's a tight-knit workplace with a lot of veteran staff still working at Waratah, and he's confident that even when they walk out of the doors for the last time - the friendships they've forged will remain close.
