Around 550 workers at Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel Refinery are going to lose heir jobs at the end of the business day on Friday, that's 5:00 PM.  This comes days after Palmer seized control of the struggling operation.  It appears to be the result of a tug of war between Palmer and the administrators he will replace.

Workers have no idea what their futures hold.

"Queensland Nickel Sales Pty Ltd, the newly appointed manager of the refinery, may offer current employees of Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd employment but the administrators are currently unaware of the terms or timing of those offers," read a statement from FTI Consulting, the administrators from whom Palmer wrested control of the refinery.  "At this time the administrators are uncertain as to the status of future employment offers," added FTI, which insists the new Palmer-led group hasn't let it in on any plans to rehire the workers.

Rohan Webb of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union says workers were being used as pawns and the situation was one of the most "outrageous" he had ever seen.