Steel Mills

Revised: US Steel Layoffs in Illinois and Indiana
Written by Sandy Williams
January 22, 2015
US Steel told employees it will idle operations in Illinois and Indiana, laying off 545 workers. The newest cuts follow the layoff of 756 workers at its tubular plants in Ohio and Texas earlier this month due to decreased demand from oil prices and the surge in lower cost imports.
Two coke ovens at Granite City Works in Illinois will be permanently closed on or after March 22, affecting 176 workers. The tin mill, East Chicago Tin, will be temporarily idled in mid-March, resulting in the layoff of 369 employees.
The cutbacks are part of the Carnegie Way transformation and came about “following an assessment of market conditions, our long-term coke strategy and our changing steelmaking footprint,” said US Steel spokesperson Courtney Boone. US Steel is also considering the introduction of electric arc furnaces to US Steel facilities which would lessen demand for coke from Granite City.
Tin products have been negatively impacted by low cost imports said Boone.
US Steel has had five consecutive years of losses and, under the helm of CEO Mario Longhi, has been working to return profit to the company.
US Steel will report quarterly earnings next Tuesday and discuss operations in the quarterly conference call on January 28.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills

Nucor names Batterbee, Bledsoe to HR roles
Nucor Corp. has promoted Thomas J. Batterbee to the position EVP of human resources and talent and appointed Elizabeth Bledsoe to the newly created position of president of human resources and talent.

Millett sees tariffs, CORE case benefiting SDI
Steel Dynamics' top exec thinks Trump’s tariff policies, as well as the results from the recent CORE case, will prove advantageous to the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker and aluminum company.

USW digs in on opposition to USS-Nippon deal
“We remain deeply concerned about the national and economic security implications of the subject transaction,” the union stated in the letter dated April 21.

SDI’s Q1 earnings slump on-year, but up sequentially
SDI earnings slip in first quarter year over year, but are up sequentially.

POSCO inks MoU with Hyundai on Louisiana EAF mill
POSCO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyundai Motor Group that includes an equity investment in Hyundai’s previously announced EAF mill set to be built in Louisiana.