U.S. Steel to take first step towards restarting idled steel mill, union says
United States Steel Corp. will take the first steps next week to restarting its Granite City Works, local union officials said late Friday, but it’s unclear just when the idled steel mill will be back to full production.
About 100 steelworkers will be called back to work next week, said Dan Simmons, president of United Steelworkers Local 1899, which represents most workers in the steel complex.
Two more workers from USW Local 68, which represents the mill’s electrical workers, also will return, said Jeff Evans, the union president.
"It is a very good sign," Simmons said.
Indeed, it creates hope that about 2,000 workers in Granite City, laid off from the mill in recent months, could soon return.
Granite City Works, one of Granite City’s largest employers, makes steel used in construction, automobiles and other industries. Citing a drastic drop in steel demand, U.S. Steel idled the mill in December and laid off most of the workers. About 1,600 people were put out of work.
Another 390 union and nonunion members were laid off in February. At that time, U.S. Steel halted production of coke, a key steel-making ingredient that it had been stockpiling.
A skeleton crew of fewer than 200 hourly workers remain at the plant, according to union officials.
Simmons said he and other union officials met with U.S. Steel Friday and were told that orders for steel appear "strong."
U.S. Steel spokeswoman Erin DiPietro would not verify whether any workers were returning unsecured personal loans online. She added that U.S. Steel is continuing to adjust production to customer demand, but would not elaborate.
"We do not provide updates on our operations," DiPietro said.
Some of the workers returning next week will prepare a blast furnace to go back online, said Jason Chism, president of USW Local 50, which represents workers in the coke and iron-making facility.
The mill could be making iron within 30 days, but U.S. Steel hasn’t yet said when it wants the blast furnace to be up and running, he said.
The blast furnace is an important part of the steel-making process. Huge ovens heat coal to make coke, which is then fed into a blast furnace to extract iron, the basic ingredient for steel, from iron ore.
Meanwhile, Evans of USW Local 68 said, some additional electrical workers will return to work the week of June 21 in the "hot strip mill," where coil is made.
In subsequent weeks, the rest of the maintenance workers — roughly 400 workers — should be recalled, Simmons said. But there’s no timetable yet for when the bulk of the plant’s workers in the steel operations will return.
Right now, he said, "that’s the unwritten (answer) — what’s next."
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