Posted on 05/13/2009 3:30:11 PM PDT by tcrlaf
EAST CHICAGO ArcelorMittal officials have announced plans to layoff nearly 1,000 workers at the steelmakers Indiana Harbor plant.
Company officials announced a mass layoff at the Flat Carbon facility, where the steelmaker recently idled the No. 4 blast furnace, a letter to local union leaders states.
Workers will be laid off for an indefinite period of time during the 14-day period commencing on July 12, 2009, a letter to United Steelworkers Local 1011 from General Manager Mark Whalen states.
The sagging economy, particularly the deep slump in auto manufacturing, has caused steep declines in demand for steel less than a year after domestic steelmakers had recorded some of their highest revenues in history.
The Indiana Harbors mills likely are operating somewhere near 40 percent of capacity, said Tom Hargrove, president of Local 1010, which represents Steelworkers on the east side of the plant.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-trib.com ...
Gary voted 94% FOR OBAMA... They are getting EXACTLY what they voted for.
And actually, I have pity for them. Maybe they can make sandwiches for thier families with all that "HOPE!" and "CHANGE!!" they were promised?
But then, how can you have pity for Unionized Democrat-voting Workers led down the primrose path of Socialism with promises of Golden Unicorns crapping magical Skittles, only to learn that they killed the Golden Goose, instead...
The ramp in steel stocks (under the guise of them “green shoots”) had me really scratching my head in puzzlement. How...with 2 of 3 car mfrs effectively closing...?
OK, so 980 workers were laidoff, but how many jobs did Obama save? /zombie
More metaphors!
BWWAAAHAAAHAAA.
The answer is “none” because Obama is destroying jobs.
Steel was having an excellant year until the fall of ‘08, it’s been falling like a rock since. Steel plants are operating at 50% capacity or less, something has to give. Too bad for these workers.
Zero creating more jobs. Just another lie from hussein.
I can’t think of any truths he’s told—oh wait—I forgot , dims don’t know how.
So is shipping, that's why I keep an eye on these charts.
No problems, the laid off workers can retrain for “green” jobs. maybe doing research on climate change or running computer programs modeling sea level rise.
You know, the really high paying technical jobs of sustainable industry.
So just tell the laid off workers to put on the white lab coats and grab their clip boards, their next job will be producing green for everyone.
I work in an industry that uses a lot of steel and we’re having trouble getting shipments because these plants want the volume of an auto industry and we’re too small to matter.
People from Gary don’t work. People might work in Gary, but People in Gary don’t work.
This plant is in Burns Harbor anyway, east of Gary, and a lot, if not most of these workers drive in from other areas, like Crown Pointe, Laporte, and other areas that a waaay more conservative and generally more republican.
The union did bleed the place over the years, but most of the people that I know that work there hate all the union crap. Its like all other union shops, bled by pensions and healthcare paid to past employees more than current pay and benefits. Its kind of like what we will be going through witg Social Security, medicare, medicaid etc, and obama’s nationalized healthcare.
Although this particular plant paid better than mittal’s other plants around here, but that’s mostly because they were manufacturing (blast furnaces), not processing steel, which actually kind of dangerous. Starting pay at processing, $18, or $19 an hour. Now, US steel pays exorbitant amounts of money, like double, or nearly double.
Mittal is also making more and more steel in India, and then processing it here. I’m sure pay is much much lower, but also way less, if any pollution standards.
One big problem I always had with them is even though Indiana is a right to work state, the union will get you fired at the steel plants, if you refuse to join. They have a strangle hold on the places to feed the union machine, or they’d probably be nearly nonexistent with newer workers.
On the plus side though, maybe mittal will wise up like a lot of places around here and toss the unions and all their excesses and legacy costs.
If not steel for windmills then maybe switch grass for basket weaving, then when the baskets wear out, turn them into green fuel. How exciting.
The laid off workers can weave and think happy, happy thoughts.
The sagging economy, particularly the deep slump in auto manufacturing, has caused steep declines in demand for steel less than a year after domestic steelmakers had recorded some of their highest revenues in history.
Some of you guys are really poisoned with this constant union carping...
Obviously the issue is not the unions...The companies were making record profits in spite of the unions...
The problem is jobs...There's no one to buy any cars...Now those steelworker won't be buying any either...
No,if they`re talking about the Mital plant (formally known as Inland Steel) in East Chicago (Harbor) then its not the Burns Harbor plant.Lets just say that I`m EXSTREMELY well acquainted with the area.But you`re right about Gary,the main source of income there is Government handouts,as in welfare checks,problem is that much of Lake county IN is rapidly catching up.
That’s the thing about liberals, they don’t have the first clue what they’re talking about.
This green lunacy is so out of hand, on HGTV they get all giggly with themselves about saving the planet by “re-purposing” a copper kettle into a chandelier.
No one is apparently bright enough to point out that copper occurs naturally in the earth.
You know, GREEN SHOOTS and all that....
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