It is reported that ArcelorMittal will bring 165 people back to work next week, but it will still be more than a month before the Cleveland steel plant's blast furnace fires up and starts melting metal again.

Mr Terry Fedor plant manager said that the company is still negotiating with the United Steelworkers of America Local 979 to figure out how many workers it needs to bring back. In May, the company put 912 workers on layoff as steel orders plunged 45% worldwide.

Mr Fedor said that the massive C5 blast furnace at the East Side plant should resume production midway through next month.

He added that "When that happens, it will be the first time a furnace has melted metal at the plant since last fall. In November, the company cut 340 jobs and put another 110 workers on layoff as it shut down the furnaces. At the time, the company still had more than 900 employees working on steel processing and finishing. Those workers were eventually laid off in May."

Last week, ArcelorMittal said that it would restart production because global markets are showing signs of improvement, but it did not expect production to quickly return to 2008's levels. A small number of maintenance workers had stayed on the job at the idled plant. Fedor did not have a total number of people who would be back to work by next week.

Mr Mark Granakis president of the USW local said that the plant went on a full shutdown in May, so starting it up again will take time as maintenance workers check equipment and prepare for operations. He said the process could take 4 to 6 weeks. He said that it will be a while before the union or the company knows exactly what demand is going to be and how many people will be needed to staff the plant.

(Sourced from www.cleveland.com)