U.S. Steel's Gary Works is seen on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Gary. File, John J. Watkins, The Times
U.S. Steel plans to lay off 244 workers at its Gary Works steel mill when it indefinitely idles its tin mill operations there, although it will relocate the workers it can to other jobs at the mill.
The majority of the tin operations will be idled, U.S. Steel Labor and Employee Relations Senior Director James Van Buren wrote in a Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice to the Indiana Department of Labor.
"These actions are due to market conditions which were out of the Company’s control, including the continuing reduced demand for the Company’s tin products and significantly increased tin mill imports," he wrote.
Layoffs at the steel mill, 1 N. Broadway, will take place Feb. 26, 2023, "and may continue periodically while the underlying market conditions last," U.S. Steel said in the notice to the state Tuesday.
The layoffs will include 125 utility technicians, 51 utility persons, 65 operating technicians and three senior operating technicians.
"Due to surging tin mill imports to the United States, which are up 30% year to date, U. S. Steel gave Gary Works tin employees advance notice that layoffs would commence in 60 days," said spokeswoman Amanda Malkowski. "Advance notice was given in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to provide workers with sufficient time to prepare for the transition. In addition, U.S. Steel is working closely with the United Steelworkers on identifying available placement opportunities for impacted employees in open jobs across the company."
U.S. Steel already idled the No. 5 tin line at Gary Works, its flagship steel mill stretching along seven miles of Lake Michigan lakefront.
"Because of these market conditions, portions of Gary Works tin have been idled for several months," she said. "U.S. Steel also serves its tin customers from the Midwest Plant. This advance notice has no impact there."
U.S. Steel has been cutting back on its tin making operations for years. It idled the East Chicago Tin finishing plant at 101 E. 129th St. in East Chicago indefinitely in 2019. The tin mill it acquired from LTV in 2000 once employed more than 360 workers but has not reopened since.
Tin is used in cans for soup, fruit, vegetables, beans, chili and other foods. Canned food demand has been shrinking as many consumers gravitate more toward fresh foods in supermarkets and food manufacturers have adopted other forms of packaging, such as cartons or plastic containers for soup.
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