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US Steel idling Granite City Works
Not a very Merry Christmas in that neighborhood.
Us “Fox Newsers” continue to be proved right. Our economy continues to spiral downward and News Wire illustrates this weekly. How many power suppliers, manufacturers, coal miners and railroaders have lost their jobs since the “Summer of recovery?” The railroad industry deserves better than this current uphill battle against an administration that has given us seven years of economic stagnation.
Bless all the workers and hope they manage to have a good Christmas anyway.
Mr. Norton, get your nose out of Hannity’s rear for a minute. The strong US dollar, the one that brings you gasoline at 1.60 a gallon, also means US exports are now more costly while imports cost less…as you may notice whenever you go to WalMart…wait they didn’t cut their prices did they?
A strong dollar, Chinese dumping steel on the world market at below cost rates…and your continued purchasing of same all bring about things like this.
Then again, we could go to war in the middle east, have the Chinese finance it for us like your buddy Gerogie did then complain about it, all the while we send our young men and women to battle for NOTHING. Then your investments in the military industrial complex would come to fruition and would you be happy? Naaaa doubt it.
I am always 100% behind labor, and truly hate seeing jobs lost. I wish the workers the best.
Very good Mr.Gless.
Well, the railroad I work for has lots more traffic than it did 7 years ago at the height (or bottom) of the Bush recession. My 401k has rebounded and then some since 2008 as has unemployment. While any loss of jobs is sad, this is nothing new for the steel industry (influenced by world markets, as Mr. Gless pointed out) and no place has employment been more volatile though history than Minnesota’s Iron Range, ebbing and flowing as demand goes up and down.
If Mr. Norton wants to live in the alternate universe created by Fox News, that’s his choice. Like those on Fox News, Mr. Norton appears to want to be miserable and apparently angry. At the very least, this constant negativity (even if you believe it’s justified) is unhealthy. That’s what’s really sad.
It sounds like you left of the aisle individuals probably never watch Fox News and blindly follow your leaders repeating the same stuff over and over as you have been programmed to do by ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, HLN, NPR etc. Maybe if you actually watched Fox you might find it really isn’t what they tell you it is, except mayde Hannity who is a bit far out there.
The economy is slipping in general and there are major issues with foreign steel, imported autos that you probably buy, cheap oil from the Middle East and a President that is disconnects from reality every time there is major decision to make. Bush hasn’t been president for 7 years, it’s way past time stop blaming him for everything you don’t like.
This story is not about your political twist, left or right. IT IS about 2080 people that are losing their jobs because of current market conditions.
Actually, Bob, I do watch Fox News, as well as other sources. One can’t make a judgment unless a variety of sources are accessed.
But you’re right. This topic is about the immediate job loss at Granite City. It was self-proclaimed “Foxnewser” Mr. Norton that politicized it initially. That speaks for itself.
And for those that apparently don’t read, US Steel is IDLING the plant, NOT shutting it down…so, the layoffs are temporary, closing the facility would be what costs those steel workers their jobs(besides the exorbitant pay and benefits(and before anyone spouts off about what it would be like without the union(s), I’m not disputing that, but it takes two to tango and if a business wants to succeed in the global economy it needs to be able to compete with the China’s, India’s and Australia’s of the world, and part of that comes through cost reduction to be price competitive). Yes, they come at a bad time for the employees and I’m not dismissing this, but I can bet you they were well aware it was a possibility at any time, so maybe they prepared(and maybe they didn’t).
the same individuals with the same right wing drivel.
Influence of the oil patch as far away as Illinois? Indeed. I live in economically diverse Northwest Arkansas but work in Oklahoma, where low oil prices are putting many out of jobs. I have three relatives, two in Texas, one in Louisiana, who’ve recently been in the oil industry. Two of them – who worked for suppliers – have been laid off. One, a highly skilled rig foreman, is still working but is shunted from rig to rig to keep busy. In the early ‘80s I lived in Pueblo, Colorado, where what was CF&I Steel Corporation was hit with a double whammy – key products were railroad rails (in the wake of deregulation) and oil field pipe (again a crash in prices decimating the oil patch). I knew it was serious the day they announced they were shutting down the coke ovens, which would, in effect, destroy them and end CF&I’s role as an integrated steel maker. Hopefully, the Granite City event is an idling and U.S. Steel won’t pull the plug.
I work for US Steel, It’s hard to compete with China when there government subsidized steel companies over produced by 800 million tons that they don’t know what do with, so they dump it here. And with an artificially low currency. Don’t blame the unions, we can compete with anybody on a level playing field
Whatever the reason, this isn’t the Season for workers trying to provide Christmas for their families. I wish them the best.
Poor employees. Right before Christmas. …
Hopefully it will be short term, I hope so
This isn’t a problem unique to the US. Here in the UK we’ve seen a third of our remaining steel industry close in recent months entirely due to the Chinese dumping their state-subsidised over production here as they do with you combined which eye-wateringly high energy prices designed to discourage use to “save the polar bears”. I don’t want to spread more clouds, but to say a plant is “temporarily” closed is being disingenuous to the employees. In my experience when such an event is announced, it seldom results in a reopening.
We couldn’t list the other railroads in this short article? This IS about trains and railroads, right?