Alton Steel Inc has announced that it will lay off 41 union production workers on November 16th 2008 because of the economic downturn and production slowdown in the steel industry. And, in a related development, workers at the Granite City Steel Division of US Steel are also being told to expect layoffs. The Alton Steel workers and members of United Steelworkers of America will continue receiving benefits during the layoffs.

Mr Michael Fitch president & CEO of Alton Steel said that "This was an extremely difficult decision. We are a small steel company with a very tight knit group of people, so that makes this decision even tougher. We looked at every available option to try and weather this downturn, but the harsh realities of today's economy and its impact on both service and manufacturing sectors just proved to be too much to overcome. The significance of the dramatic downturn has impacted virtually all industries from healthcare, transportation and the financial world to the foundation of the American economy, the manufacturing sector."

Mr Terry Wooden president of United Steelworkers' Local 3643 in Alton said that "My hope is that it will be a short time. Steel fabrication is curtailed or idled across the United States. Everything moves through lines of credit. Prior to this, they worked a lot of overtime on the upside."

Alton Steel makes steel rounds, squares, billets and slabs. In the past, during manufacturing slowdowns, Mr Wooden said that Alton Steel would have the production workers clean and do maintenance work, instead of reducing the workforce.

At Granite City Steel, workers are being told this week that somewhere around 100 workers will be sidelined, at least temporarily, as a result of customer credit problems. The jobs are expected to be mainly those of laborers with less than three years of service.