GRANITE CITY, IL (KTVI - FOX2now.com) -
Granite City steel is reopening. Union members say the idled steel mill will fire up again soon, meaning thousands of laid-off mill workers will once again have a job and, more importantly, a paycheck.
"This is good news for the whole Metro East, for that matter the whole metropolitan St. Louis area," says United Steel Workers Subdistrict 2 Director Dave Dowling.
"The layoffs occurred in stages, as early as late October, and early November," he recalls. December was particularly bad, with several hundred jobs cut each week. "Right now we have over two thousand of our members laid off."
At Lisa's Diner on Madison Avenue, they can see the bright blue exterior of Granite City Steel through the windows. For years that plant meant business. Since fall it has meant nothing.
"Everybody here works at the mill," says server Connie Monson. "Not only the workers coming in, but we have families that bring their kids in for dinner and weekends and what not. If they're not working they can't afford to go out to eat."
"Every stool in here would be full, people would be coming in picking up to go orders, standing, waiting to be seated, it's really a lot busier."
Business is coming back, says Dowling. Union workers met with local US Steel management and found out a plan is being formulated to fire up one of Granite City's two blast furnaces. Dowling warns it doesn't happen overnight.
"They don't decide to do it overnight. It will take time," he says. "It means a lot of folks will be starting to come back to work as early as this week, then over the next four to six weeks more of our members will be returning to work."
Dowling says the unions had been watching steel orders over a period of weeks and saw an increase. "Then last week we saw a sudden surge," he says. "That prompted US Steel to decide that it was a good time to start a blast furnace somewhere in their corporation and fortunately for us they've chosen to start it here in Granite City."
Dowling says they are hopeful the surge is "not a blip," because they hope this is not a temporary recall for workers. But he worries it might be, because of what he calls a nationwide steel crisis.
"What we call steel capacity utilization is at a low point in recent memory," he says. "The steel industry was operating at less than 40 percent capacity just a few weeks ago. The start up of a blast furnace will bring that up, but we are still in a crisis in the steel industry. There are still thousands of steel workers and manufacturing workers laid off, so we've still got a long way to go."
The local United Steel Workers president is going to DC to testify in front of Congress about the steel crisis and its impact on employees.
"The members I was with Friday when we got the word, the change in attitude was just tremendous," says Dowling. "We had sort of resigned ourselves that there may not be a start up until 2010, so this was unexpected welcome news."
"I hope they do restart it," says April McFarland, another worker at Lisa's. "I've got family that works there, too. So I hope they do."
Monson agrees. "It's dropped our business down tremendously. It's bad," she says. The prospect of the plant reopening "is what keeps us going."
"This is good news for the whole Metro East, for that matter the whole metropolitan St. Louis area," says United Steel Workers Subdistrict 2 Director Dave Dowling.
"The layoffs occurred in stages, as early as late October, and early November," he recalls. December was particularly bad, with several hundred jobs cut each week. "Right now we have over two thousand of our members laid off."
At Lisa's Diner on Madison Avenue, they can see the bright blue exterior of Granite City Steel through the windows. For years that plant meant business. Since fall it has meant nothing.
"Everybody here works at the mill," says server Connie Monson. "Not only the workers coming in, but we have families that bring their kids in for dinner and weekends and what not. If they're not working they can't afford to go out to eat."
"Every stool in here would be full, people would be coming in picking up to go orders, standing, waiting to be seated, it's really a lot busier."
Business is coming back, says Dowling. Union workers met with local US Steel management and found out a plan is being formulated to fire up one of Granite City's two blast furnaces. Dowling warns it doesn't happen overnight.
"They don't decide to do it overnight. It will take time," he says. "It means a lot of folks will be starting to come back to work as early as this week, then over the next four to six weeks more of our members will be returning to work."
Dowling says the unions had been watching steel orders over a period of weeks and saw an increase. "Then last week we saw a sudden surge," he says. "That prompted US Steel to decide that it was a good time to start a blast furnace somewhere in their corporation and fortunately for us they've chosen to start it here in Granite City."
Dowling says they are hopeful the surge is "not a blip," because they hope this is not a temporary recall for workers. But he worries it might be, because of what he calls a nationwide steel crisis.
"What we call steel capacity utilization is at a low point in recent memory," he says. "The steel industry was operating at less than 40 percent capacity just a few weeks ago. The start up of a blast furnace will bring that up, but we are still in a crisis in the steel industry. There are still thousands of steel workers and manufacturing workers laid off, so we've still got a long way to go."
The local United Steel Workers president is going to DC to testify in front of Congress about the steel crisis and its impact on employees.
"The members I was with Friday when we got the word, the change in attitude was just tremendous," says Dowling. "We had sort of resigned ourselves that there may not be a start up until 2010, so this was unexpected welcome news."
"I hope they do restart it," says April McFarland, another worker at Lisa's. "I've got family that works there, too. So I hope they do."
Monson agrees. "It's dropped our business down tremendously. It's bad," she says. The prospect of the plant reopening "is what keeps us going."
