U.S. Steel raises layoff total at East Chicago Tin Mill to 314
EAST CHICAGO, In (Inside INdiana Business) — Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. has updated Indiana officials about previously announced layoffs at the East Chicago Tin Mill.
The company says 314, rather than 307, workers will be displaced when the mill is idled this fall. East Chicago Tin makes tin products like paint cans and tin-plated metal for canned foods.
U.S. Steel sent a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notice, to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development in September to announce the plant closure. Last week, the company updated the letter by saying seven more positions, mostly security jobs, would be laid off in December.
The steelmaker said it is consolidating its three tin mills into two facilities as the reason for the idling of the East Chicago plant. The company cites global competition and imports of low-priced tin as part of the reason behind the layoffs.
“The idling is not expected to be permanent but will be of an indefinite period,” said James Van Buren, director of employee relations for U.S. Steel Gary Works, in the WARN letter to the state.
U.S. Steel said while more than 300 workers will be displaced, it expects actual job losses to be fewer than 150 when workers take positions at other U.S. Steel facilities in Gary and Portage.
According to the original WARN letter the layoffs will begin Nov. 9 and will continue periodically through the end of the year.
Talks are underway with the United Steelworkers union about the number of workers who will be transferred to those other sites.