ArcelorMittal to Suspend Cleveland plant
Filed Under (Business News) by Fred Chan on 08-03-2009
Tagged Under : ArcelorMittal, close, steel plant, suspend
World biggest Steel maker ArcelorMittal plans to suspend operations at its Cleveland site in early May amid a declining market for steel and lay off about 700 more workers for an undetermined length of time, a local union official said Saturday.
About 450 of the roughly 1,400 members of the United Steelworkers of America Local 979 already have been laid off in the past three months, Local 979 vice president Dan Boone said.
Union officials and company management informed workers about the new round of layoffs in several meetings Friday, he said, adding that economic conditions had foreshadowed the potential for more cuts. He said many of the workers had been cut during shutdowns by other northeast Ohio steel companies in the past.
“We’ve been through this before, so there was no mass panic, no disruption at the meetings,” Boone said. “For the people who have been through it before, pretty much a here-we-go-again attitude, obviously extreme disappointment.”
An estimated 250 workers would remain at the site to keep up with environmental protection tasks and maintenance of the mill and finishing plant in the city’s Flats area, he said.
The workers of Local 979 are hopeful that provision will boost the steel market and put them back to work, Boone said.
“This was a difficult decision to make, but the company is being forced to respond to the extraordinary economic environment we are facing,” ArcelorMittal said in a statement.
The Cleveland site likely will remain idle until the credit markets open up and there’s an increase in the demand, which began to drop off significantly in the fall, Boone said.
He said steelworkers feel confident that layoffs won’t be permanent and that they have strong support from Gov. Ted Strickland and other Democrats from the region.
Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel maker, said it is responding to poor market conditions and collapsing demand. The company idled the two blast furnaces in Cleveland in October as it cut worldwide production by 45 percent, and it posted a fourth-quarter loss of $2.6 billion, its first-ever quarterly loss.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Cleveland, released a statement Friday urging Congress to help the steel industry by enforcing the “Buy American” language in the recent federal stimulus package.
- AP
