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| U.S. Steel said it will reopening a blast furnace in Granite City, recalling 500 workers, after President Donald Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on steel imports. Pictured is the US Steel plant in Gary, Ind. |
The Belleville News-Democrat reports that Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel said Wednesday that it anticipates calling about 500 Granite City Works employees back to work in March. The company says the change comes due to anticipated demand for more U.S. steel in response to Trump's tariff announcement last week.
About 2,000 workers were laid off when U.S. Steel idled the St. Louis-area plant in late 2015.
U.S. Steel president and CEO David Burritt says Trump's action "recognizes the significant threat steel imports pose to our national and economic security."
Trump has said the tariffs are needed to preserve American industries and protect national security.
An Illinois town celebrates as Trump's tariffs prompt U.S. Steel to bring jobs back
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| U.S. Steel plans to reopen its plant in Granite City following President Trump's announcement that the United States will place tariffs on imported steel. |
The small Illinois steel town outside St. Louis felt the bedrock shift in 2015 when one of its biggest and best-paying employers, U.S. Steel, said it would idle its Granite City plant and cut 2,000 jobs. On Wednesday, the company said it will restart one of two blast furnaces — where the steelmaking process begins — next month.
U.S. Steel announced the move, which will involve calling back about 500 employees, just a day before President Donald Trump’s Thursday action to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum from all foreign countries, with the exception of Mexico and Canada.
“Our Granite City Works facility and employees, as well as the surrounding community, have suffered too long from the unending waves of unfairly traded steel products that have flooded U.S. markets,” U.S. Steel President and Chief Executive Officer David B. Burritt said in a news release. The Pittsburgh-based company says restarting the furnace could take up to four months.
Granite City residents and business owners — many of whom have family or friends who worked at the plant — say that although the number of jobs returning may seem like a drop in the bucket, the move is a big positive for the community.
“We’re ecstatic,” said Tina Besserman, a real estate agent and lifelong resident of Granite City, population 29,000.
Jim Hudson, a pawn shop owner, said the job losses haven’t significantly affected his business, and he doesn’t expect the restored jobs will improve business too much.
But Hudson does see the impact bringing back the steel jobs could have on his friends who were laid off two years ago. One took a job at Olin Corp., which makes ammunition; another is now an airport baggage handler. Both make about half what they made at U.S. Steel, Hudson said. Others, he said, have taken entry-level jobs to fill the gap, taking even larger pay cuts. The average wage of jobs at the steel plant was $64,000.
The return of 500 jobs means not just positions that can be filled, but also higher salaries that can support a family, he said.
“The people I know are very hopeful,” Hudson said.
Russell Homyer, the manager of the Community Care Center, which is supported by the United Way and provides hot meals, monthly food boxes and clothing to needy area families, remembers well what it was like for steelworkers in the community two years ago when they were standing outside the center’s door.
“They were like cars lined up outside waiting” to get their monthly food boxes, he said, which include between 50 and 80 pounds of meat, dairy and produce. “We tried to do our best to support them.”
For some laid-off workers, it was difficult to take help, said Homyer, also a lifelong Granite City resident.
“The steelworkers’ mentality — I think a lot of them were slow to admit they needed help, but we tried to show them it’s not a handout, it’s a hand up,” Homyer said.
It will likely be some time before the area’s steelworkers are out of the woods and back to work again, Homyer said.
“Our hope is that they do well and keep bringing more of (the workers) back,” he said. “Then at some point, we may see things turn around.”
Mike DeBruce, the owner of the Park Grill, which backs up to the U.S. Steel plant, said his business slowed as the steelworkers began working elsewhere, but it wasn’t just the loss of those patrons. The truckers, the inspectors and all the other affiliated workers that came in and out of the city every day put a big dent in the restaurant’s sales, he said.
“The domino effect is where it really hurt me,” DeBruce said.
But the tide is turning. DeBruce said his Facebook feed is now full of happy posts, with friends talking about going back to work.
“We’ve had a lot of news that hasn’t been good for so long — it’s good to have something positive,” he said.
Mayor Ed Hagnauer called the jobs a “morale builder” in addition to the obvious financial benefits they will bring to the community.
“For two years, I’ve been going around town and everyone asks, ‘When are the jobs coming back?’ ‘When are the jobs coming back?” he said, noting that town officials and residents’ efforts to draw attention to the job losses never halted.
“These are very good jobs and we appreciate these jobs being here,” he said. “The community was built around this steel plant, the community wasn’t built first.”
James Amos, Granite City’s director of economic development, said residents are “very happy” about the new steel jobs and the expected ripple effect that will come along with them.
“We’re really hopeful for our families,” said Amos, who’s also a pastor. “I don’t want to convey that this is all or nothing but it’s a big deal.”
“We’re a very humble, Midwest, blue-collar town,” he said. “People here are kind to each other and there’s a strong sense of community here. People are really excited about it. There isn’t anybody in our community that doesn’t know people who work at that plant.”
Besserman, who had relatives who worked at the plant, said that most workers who lost their jobs remained in their homes because of community support.
“I think a lot of people have the perception that we’ve been asleep through this time, but we stood strong,” she said. “We’re the kind of town that pulls together during a hard time, so while we know they’re struggling, there are always people trying to come in and support them.”
“I was born and raised here. When people come here from outside, one thing I’ve always told is how generous we are,” she said. “Hopefully we showed that to the steelworkers, and when they’re back on their feet, they can lend others in need a helping hand.”
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