Steel Mills

US Steel Lays Off 25% of Salaried Workers

Written by Sandy Williams

April 6, 2016

US Steel will lay off about 25 percent of its salaried workers in its latest cost cutting effort. It is estimated about 750 employees in the 3,000 North American salaried positions will be laid off.

“This is part of the ongoing adjustment to staff levels and operations due to challenging market conditions, including fluctuating oil prices, reduced rig counts, depressed steel prices and unfairly traded imports,” said US Steel spokeswoman Sarah Cassella. “Many factors were carefully considered, including skills, knowledge and technical proficiencies needed to meet business needs.”

US Steel suffered a $1.5 billion loss in 2015 resulting in production cuts and a series of layoffs in Alabama, Texas, Ohio and Illinois. The company’s tubular business was hit particularly hard by low oil prices and reduced drilling resulting in the layoff of 770 workers in Alabama and Texas last month. The blast furnace at Fairfield Works has been idled and plans to build an electric arc furnace at the facility have been postponed.

US Steel is expected to report another loss when it releases its first quarter 2016 earnings report later this month.

Sandy Williams

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