Herald Star Online reported that Steelmaker Severstal idling of all its operations in the Severstal Wheeling plants, except the Follansbee coke plant. Italso announced the idling of its entire Warren plant and earlier in the week discussed job cuts at the Severstal Wheeling headquarters and the idling of a blast furnace at its Sparrows Point plant later this summer. However, the company is not characterizing the closures as permanent and local and union officials are holding onto hope that the plants will be revived in some form when the economy needs steel again.

Mr Bill Bensie who became president of United Steelworkers Local 1190, which includes members at the Steubenville plant and the coke plant, emphasized reasons for hope. He said that "We're not closing anything. We're idling until the economy picks up."

Mr Bensie said there will be skeleton crews and fire watch crews in the mills. In addition, he said Severstal is keeping three of the coke batteries at hot idle, preserving them for a return to production, instead of shutting them down, which would ruin the oven linings. He said that members still have unemployment, sub pay and insurance and nothing has changed for retiree benefits.

Mr John Saunders a contract administrator with the union at Severstal Wheeling, said though the company issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notices, it doesn't mean the plants are permanently closed. The W.A.R.N. Act, he said, includes situations where notifications have to be made because of a plant's idling but not a permanent closing. He said that "It's truly an indication of where the American steel industry is today. This has affected the largest companies, ArcelorMittal, US Steel and smaller operations, and it's hit home in the valley this time."

Mr Saunders said the Yorkville plant, which makes black plate for tin coating lines, hadn't been impacted by job cuts until now. He said that "We cannot look at the stock market every day and see it upbeat and think that has a favorable impact on the steel industry. It continues to need a strong automotive industry, housing market and major construction, and those areas continue to be at record lows."

Mr Saunders said, it doesn't mean the plants are gone for good. He said the union is looking at other options to be able to offset the deficit we're facing here and in Warren. He said that these are tough times, but this isn't the end. It doesn't mean they'll never start up again, and we're not taking it as that."

(Sourced from Heraldstaronline)