The wheels appear to be coming off Julia Gillard's drive to push her carbon price plans through parliament, with steel workers warning they'll pull the brake if their jobs go, even though a minister says the additional carbon tax cost would be minimal.
Greens leader Bob Brown's reacted by insinuating their union boss, the AWU's secretary Paul Howes, is economically
illiterate if he doesn't understand that a carbon tax will help to create new jobs.
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But Mr Howes rejects this, saying his industry is battling a high Australian dollar and rising resources prices and if there's a carbon tax he wants the industry's 90-thousand workers protected, or the industry exempt from the tax.
He says if jobs go the union will no longer support the PM's plan.
But Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says a 20 dollar a tonne carbon price with government assistance for the steel industry would add just two-dollars-60 to the 800 dollars it costs to make a tonne of steel.
