Photo by Commonwealth Media Services
State lawmakers rally around Steelton plant
(The Center Square) – In May, Cleveland-Cliffs announced the idling of its plant in Steelton, a town on the Susquehanna River just south of the state capital.
Monday, on the first day of the closure, Dauphin County legislators convened with workers from to show support for the plant’s role in the community.
“Today is the first day of the ‘idle’, but it is not the last day of our fight,” said Sen. Patty Kim, D-Harrisburg. “For the last month, since the day Cleveland-Cliffs’ made their surprise announcement, we have been at work engaging federal, state, county and local officials to come together and meet the moment.
Rep. Dave Madsen, D-Steelton, echoed Kim’s sentiment about the support she’d seen for steel workers at every level of government.
“Cleveland-Cliffs needs to do the same, come to the table as a willing partner and find a path forward,” said Madsen.
The idling impacts 551 workers including 491 union members and 60 salaried employees.
“Events like this are an unfortunate reminder of our need to maintain a strong safety net by funding programs that provide food, maintain housing, ensure medical care, and assist with other essentials during hard times,” said Rep. Justin Fleming, D-Harrisburg.
To that end, the General Assembly members are offering services to support those who have lost their jobs for the time being. They say they’ll continue to support United Steel Workers Local 1688 in finding ways to cut costs and improve efficiency so that the plant can reopen.
“We stand united in exhausting every avenue and resource available to secure a future for the steel mill and its employees,” said Kim.
In the meantime, they say they’re waiting for Cleveland-Cliffs to do the same.
Christina Lengyel is a Pennsylvania reporter for The Center Square. She is based in Harrisburg.
This article was republished with permission from The Center Square.
I can well understand the amount of concern and potential effort government and unions want to put into saving the rail mill. The same amount of effort was put forth when it was Bethlehem Steel and it closed the rail mill. Even more concern when Bethlehem Steel filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated. Since, the plant had a several owners. Unfortunately, steel generally and rail in particular is in a constricted market which is highly competitive. This made worse by the fact that railroads, (primary customer) are reusing the rail they currently have to the extent possible. Steelton is hampered by a physical plant that is 100+ years old. You can only upgrade old so far (otherwise I would be in fine shape). I will be very interested in how employment will be restored. Steelton did not deserve the hit it took when Bethlehem Steel filed for bankruptcy, it should not have to suffer yet another hit, but being realistic, Cleveland Cliffs doesn’t have the resources to bring it back and keep it back.