LORAIN, Ohio -- United States Steel Corp. confirmed today that it will temporarily idle its Lorain Tubular Operations as well as its Tubular Processing plant in Houston.
In a letter to the president of the United Steelworkers union, Leo Gerard, the company said, “This action is a result of a decline in tubular market conditions, which is impacting demand for the plant’s products.
Layoffs will begin March 8, the company said, idling 614 workers here and 142 in Houston.
The letter to Gerard, in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, is posted on the website of Local 1104, which represents workers here.
“The company has suddenly lost a great deal of business because of the recent downturn in the oil industry,” said Tom McDermott, president of USW Local 1104, in the posting at the site. “What appeared just a few short weeks ago as being a productive year, [with new hires in December and extra turns going on], has most abruptly turned sour.”
By noon today, the price of “light, sweet oil for February delivery” fell to $48.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Pictured: U.S. Steel Lorain's Tubular Operations.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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