About 175 laid off workers have been called back to work at US Steel's Hamilton, Ontario operations as of Monday, June 15. Furthermore, union sources from US Steel Corp.'s corporate offices in Pittsburgh confirmed last Friday that the firm is planning to resume production at its Granite City, Illinois works and has called back 100 workers this week.
Workers were called back to the Ontario plant to resume output of coke. Another 600 will be recalled this summer, a union spokesperson said. US Steel announced layoffs of over 2,000 at its Canadian operations March 3.
Regarding US Steel's Granite City Works, United Steelworkers Local 50 President Jason Chism said workers were told the facility was to reopen as soon as possible, although they do not have a firm date yet. Already, about 100 steelworkers have been called back to work as of this week to restart one of the two blast furnaces at Granite Works, union sources confirm. Steelmaking could resume at the site within a month.
Still, about 2,200 steel workers are waiting to get back to work at Granite Works. In December, 1,600 employees were temporarily laid off when the plant was idled, and later on in March 390 additional employees were laid off at the plant.