681 Employees of U.S. Steel To Lose Jobs on Iron Range

Iron Production at Minntac Plant Being Partially Idled

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Not even three weeks after U.S. Steel announced it would be laying off 412 employees at its plant in Keewatin, the company said Tuesday it will be idling production at its second Minnesota plant, Minntac, leaving hundreds more without work.

Back in the late 1990s, U.S. Steel’s plants saw widespread changes across the industry due to an increase in foreign imports. 

Now, it is happening again, as 681 employees of Minntac in Mountain Iron have been notified that they will be laid off, effective June 1.

“It happened in the 70s, it happened in the 80s, it happened in the 90s, it happened in 2009,” said former US Steel employee Peter Skogman.

It’s a recurring pattern that doesn’t seem to break.

“It’s hills and valleys, and that’s all there is to it,” said Skogman.

“I thought, well here we go again,” said another former US Steel employee, Mark Snidarich.

While the steel industry is undergoing transformations across the nation, it is hitting home in northern Minnesota.

“Everybody figures that we rely on tourism. We don’t. We rely on the mines,” Skogman stated.

“It’s the heart of the city, we’ve tried to diversify with other things, but we’d be fooling ourselves if mining isn’t the key industry, not only to Mountain Iron, but to the entire region,” said Mountain Iron Mayor Gary Skalko.

Rumors had been circulating through the Iron Range about the possibility of U.S. Steel, the regions largest employer, laying off more employees.

“It wasn’t complete shock, but when you hear it, it’s upsetting,” Skalko added.

But it’s the numbers that are leaving so many surprised.

“Seven-hundred employees, it’s pretty shocking,” Snidarich said.

And with hundreds of questions about the future.

“What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?” asked Skogman, hypothetically.

Officials with U.S. Steel attribute the layoffs to unfair product trading, low steel price, and an increase in imports from foreign countries.

“The steel market is dependent on what’s going on in the world, and right now, foreign countries are flooding this country with steel,” Skogman explained.

Those who know this cycle all too well are calling for action.

“I’d like to see them toughen up the laws. Toughen it up. Make it so that the minute there’s too much importing steel, when they know they’re dumping it, they cut it off,” declared Skogman.

A U.S. Steel spokesperson told FOX 21 that the idling of the Minntac plant will be temporary, but gave no comment as to just how long it will last, and also declined to comment about the future of the plant whatsoever.

The CEO of U.S. Steel, Mario Longhi, spoke in Washington D.C. last week, asking the government to make a change regarding this world-wide issue that is affecting miners so deeply in the United States.