MN House Unanimously Passes Iron Range Miners Relief

HIBBING/VIRGINIA, Minn. — On Monday, members of the Minnesota House almost unanimously passed House File 3023, a piece of legislation co-authored by Rep. Pete Johnson (DFL-Duluth) to extend Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits to impacted Iron Range miners.

The bill looks to give the approximately 630+ Iron Range miners, who will be laid off by the end of May, with up to 26 additional weeks of Unemployment Insurance if their regular UI benefits are exhausted.

Cleveland-Cliffs, the leading steel producer in North America, announced in March that they’re temporarily idling more than 600 steelworkers at Hibbing Taconite and Minorca mine.

Cleveland-Cliffs says the “temporary idles are necessary to re-balance working capital needs and consume excess pellet inventory produced in 2024.”

Laid off miners will be able to collect 50% of their regular salary under Minnesota’s current UI system as they await for the mines to reopen — which is another current unknown.

“With the plan and the thought that the mines won’t spool back up within that original 6-month window. This gives a little bit of more space and breathing room for those workers to make sure they’re able to stay in the region, don’t have to worry about finding a job elsewhere, or taking their families and uprooting them to move to somewhere else,” said Johnson. “It will definitely make things tight, but it’s designed to keep people going through that interim until they can find something or that job comes back.”

Under Minnesota’s current UI system, laid off workers can collect up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. This will extend Iron Range miner’s benefits for up to a year of being laid off, if the bill passes the Senate.

The Senate continues to work on their version of the bill which is been overviewed by the Jobs and Economic Development Committee.