ArcelorMittal Cleveland announced that it is in the process of restarting a blast furnace and other operations at its steel complex near downtown and that some of the laid off workers will be back on the job starting next week.

Mary Beth Holdford spokeswoman of ArcelorMittal said that “The return to production of the company's C 5 blast furnace, a steel shop, hot mill, pickle line, tandem mill and galvanizing line at the East Side manufacturing and annealing plant is a result of improving market demand.”

Ms Holdford said that local officials of ArcelorMittal are working closely with United Steelworkers of America union Local 979 to ensure a safe and successful restart. She added that “The company is not able to determine how many Steelworkers and salaried employees would return to work at the plant but agreed that "hundreds would be a safe bet."

On May 11, the company announced it would temporarily close its plant in the Flats, putting 912 steelworkers out of work. The company also moved many of its 300 or so Cleveland area salaried workers to jobs at mills in other states.

(Sourced from Cleveland