More disappointing news Tuesday for Granite City's steelworkers.
The plant's owner, U.S. Steel, announced intentions to idle primary operations indefinitely and send lay-off notices to 1,000 employees. The union, though, doesn't expect that many people to ultimately be affected. Rank-and-file are hoping for a sale. The community is concerned about continued instability.
In a statement, the Pittsburgh-based company says:
"U. S. Steel has indefinitely idled Granite City’s primary operations and will meet customer demand by leveraging the Company’s active iron and steelmaking facilities. This action was taken in order to help ensure melt capacity is balanced with our order book.
"Accordingly, the Company has sent the required notices to employees who potentially may be affected. We thank our employees for their contributions and will keep them informed throughout this process."
U.S. Steel previously temporarily idled blast furnace B at the Granite City plant as part of a 'risk mitigation plan' back in September. The company blamed the then-ongoing United Auto Workers strike for its decision.
400 workers were laid off in connection with the lack of auto demand, including nearly 300 within the first two weeks after the announcement.
Now, the auto workers are back, but U.S. Steel is still sending workers home.
In total, the company says approximately 1,000 Granite City workers will get Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices. The federal WARN Act requires companies with more than 100 employees to provide at least 60 days notice of planned closings and mass layoffs.
WARNINGS AREN'T FOR CERTAIN
"It's still operations as we know it today," United Steel Workers Local 1899 President Dan Simmons told KMOX in Granite City on Tuesday. "We're still going to be rolling slabs from other facilities. That's what we're doing currently."
He was asked what he'd like his workers to know: "If they've worked for U.S. Steel for any length of time, they understand how they operate. These are ruthless people, but at the same time they're business people," he said.
Simmons said the 340 union workers laid off in October remain off the job. There is no timeline on when or if they will return. U.S. Steel notes both union and non-union jobs are included in this new WARN notice.
Simmons says there's a path back: if U.S. Steel can get its order book increased with the type of product produced in Granite City, he doesn't see a reason why the plant should remain down, especially with the wholesale price of steel rising, which he says translates into big profits.
HOW MUCH HEADS UP?
"This is just a 'cover-their-butts', so to speak," after not issuing a WARN notice ahead of the September lay-offs, Simmons said of the latest announcement.
U.S. Steel says about 400 of the workers under the 1,000 being sent this WARN notice are those on lay-off because of that closure of blast furnace B. They are retroactively being told their jobs are in jeopardy.
Simmons: "There's loopholes in the WARN Act. When you read it, they can, if it exceeds longer than their original expectations, they can come back, give you a WARN notification now which covers that time, without any kind of penalty."
Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (D), whose district covers Granite City, has filed legislation called the "Fair Warning Act" to change those requirements.
"The Fair Warning Act would close some of these loopholes that I do believe U.S. Steel is taking advantage of," she told KMOX.
First, she says, workers need more than 60 days notice.
"I think they should be given 90 days notice. We have to think about it's not just the impact on the individual worker given the layoff, but the impact on their family, on the community. Everyone needs time to prepare."
Her bill would also ask states to establish rapid response committees to prepare communities and workers impacted by massive closures and lay-offs.
In the case of Granite City, though, Budzinski doesn't think lay-offs should even be part of the equation. She's hopeful U.S. Steel as a company will be sold; it is undergoing a strategic review process. Simmons says the rank-and-file are in favor of a buy-out bid from stateside competitor Cleveland-Cliffs.
"[A new, American-based owner] could potentially really have the worker-centric kind of philosophy for their company and could be prioritizing investments in Granite City. That's what I'm hoping for to be the outcome from this," Budzinski told us.
It's clear U.S. Steel, as a standalone company, is setting its sights elsewhere. It said in June 2022 it wanted to sell the Granite City operation to a outsourcing firm called Suncoke Energy, which would cut nearly two-thirds of the 1,500 person workforce and use the facility to produce pig iron pellets.
U.S. Steel would then buy those pellets to make steel at a non-union plant in Arkansas. That plan has been in flux with the entire company up for sale.
"It’s clear that the company’s executives are more concerned with lining their own pockets than they are with the livelihoods of the workers who have built their company for generations," Budzinski said.
Simmons previously told KMOX that he believed U.S. Steel was considering the drastic change due to the company's concerns that there could be a glut of steel on the market coming up in 2024.