Demand picks up at U.S. Steel Gary Works

BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana
holecek@nwitimes.com

The U.S. Steel Gary Works labor force is becoming the beneficiary of closings and consolidations at other company plants in the country.

The Gary Works is restarting its No. 1 caster and its No. 6 blast furnace as work is diverted to the plant from the company's idled facilities, keeping a full slate of union employment at the Gary facility, one union official said.

"We're at full employment," said United Steelworkers Local 1014 President Jerry Littles. "We're blessed because we're all working at Gary, but the benefits we're reaping are from the job losses at other plants."

The local represents about 2,400 hourly employees working on the "hot" iron and steelmaking side of Gary Works. It's No. 6 blast furnace was idled for maintenance in September along with the No. 8 furnace, which remains down.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker is moving orders to the plant as part of the consolidation plan it announced in early December because of slumping steel demand.

Company spokeswoman Erin DiPietro said Friday it is the company's policy not to provide updates on its production.

"We do adjust production levels to keep pace with our customers' orders," she said Friday.

In conjunction with the plant consolidations, the company has laid off 3,500 union workers at Great Lakes Works near Detroit and Granite City Works near St. Louis, as well as at its Keewatin, Minn., iron-ore mining and pelletizing facility.

U.S. Steel determined which plants to continue operating based on "factors to do with efficiency and production," U.S. Steel spokesman John Armstrong said when the consolidations were announced.

"The determining factor is customer orders and the type of steel to fill those orders," he had said, adding that Gary Works is a very efficient operation that has the ability to make a wide variety of steel.

Steel demand has continued to falter as service centers use up high-priced inventory, and automakers, consumer goods and appliance manufacturers lowered production in line with orders.