Job Cuts

Mining giant BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) will fill its workforce shortage at its coal and iron ore operations by aiming to assimilate BlueScope Steel's (ASX:BSL) 1400 soon to be retrenched workers.

BlueScope Steel's (ASX:BSL) is letting go of 1000 jobs with the shutdown of its Western Port hot strip mill at Victoria and a blast furnace at Port Kembla.

800 jobs are expected to be lost in NSW and 200 in Victoria, overall 1000 jobs from a workforce numbering 9000 with additional contractor job losses.

Westpac (ASX:WBC) is preparing for job cuts in an effort to cut costs as bad debts and cautious retail customers plague the big bank.

Hundreds of jobs are predicted to be lost when BlueScope Steel (BSL) announces its financial results next week, according to the Australian Worker's Union (AWU).

BlueScope Steel posted a $900 million write-down of assets last week and is expected to report another $100 million loss on top of that next Monday. Analysts said the miner will probably stop its money-losing export business and cut back on production.