Work to resume at ArcelorMittal's Riverdale, Ill., steel plant

BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana 
holecek@nwitimes.com

RIVERDALE, Ill. | ArcelorMittal's currently idled Riverdale finishing plant will resume steel operations in two weeks.

"ArcelorMittal Riverdale employees are returning to ready the facility as we prepare to resume operations on Jan. 26 in order to meet the demand for the facility�s unique product mix," said ArcelorMittal spokeswoman Katie Patterson.

Of ArcelorMittal's Riverdale plant's 244 workers, 54 have been on voluntary layoff for more than a month, and another 135 have been on involuntary layoff, said Gary Bender, president of United Steelworkers Local 9481, which represents the finishing mill's workers. The other 55 workers have remained on the job or are in training.

About a fourth of the plant's laid off employees returned to work Monday, and more are expected to return Jan. 20, he said.

"On Jan. 12th, we will bring back 44 people from layoff," Bender said. "And on Jan. 20, we plan on bringing back 55 more people to start making steel for our customers on the 26th."

The remaining 88 employees will be on layoff until business conditions improve "to the degree necessary to add more people," he said.

Patterson said the need to continue those layoffs was a difficult decision for the company.

"But the company is responding to the extraordinary economic conditions we face," she said. "We will be carefully monitoring the situation, and we look forward to additional employees returning to work as soon as it is warranted by market conditions."

ArcelorMittal appreciates its employees' efforts and assistance during this challenging period, Patterson said.

"We will continue to work with the USW to minimize the impact on our employees and their families," she said.

The plant has received hot metal for its finishing operations from the blast furnaces of its sister plants in Indiana Harbor and Burns Harbor, where steelmaking operations also have slowed. For the past several months, only two of Indiana Harbor's four blast furnaces and one of Burns Harbor's two furnaces have been producing.

Formerly Acme Steel Co., ArcelorMittal's Riverdale plant lost its blast furnace when it was shut down after Acme Steel filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and closed in late 2001.

During the past several weeks, the nation's steel plants have been operating at less than one-half of the estimated 2.4 million ton average weekly capacity, the American Iron and Steel Institute reports.