GRANITE CITY, IL (FOX2now.com)—
While news about jobs and the economy continues to be mixed in Granite City one major industry is making a comeback. In just a few short months U.S. Steel's Granite City works has climbed from the valley floor to the mountain top. Employees have been slowly coming back to work since June. Now, everyone's back at work. Some were so new when the layoffs began that they are spending the new few weeks re-learning how things work.The company is even hiring new people to replace those who retired or took other jobs during the shutdown.
"That was the first time that this place had been fully idled in 135 year history here and for me to stand here today and tell you that everybody is back at work and we are in a hiring situation. I am completely set back and wow would be the factor in there." said Jason Chism the USW Local 50 President
Ironcically all this hiring and rehiring comes at the same time U.S. Steel has jsut posted its fourth consecutive qurterly loss with a forecast of more losses this quarter. So why the need for more workers?
Jack strauss is an economist at St. Louis University. He said,"It appears the economy is turning the corner we are ramping up production, we expect steel production to do quite well over the next 6 to 12 months."
Production is also ramping up at Jerry's Restaurant which had to borrow money to stay in business while waiting for the steel mill to get back to business.
The layoffs at the Granite City Works began in October 2008 and at their peak left about 2,000 people out of work.
