Rock Island Today

Reports of the United States Steel Corporation purchasing an Illinois steel mill garnered the concern of politicians and unionists.

“Organized labor is working hard to ease the burden on working families, and we need to work with them to help wherever we can,” Mike Thoms, Republican candidate for the Illinois Senate, said to Rock Island Today. “(Gov.) J.B. Pritzker puts his progressive agenda ahead of economic health and growth. It impacts the workforce and hurts Illinois taxpayers. We need to hold him accountable and stop letting him take support from organized labor for granted.”

Fox 2 Now reported that United Steelworkers (USW), a union representing the Granite City plant and 1.2 million workers and retired members in North America, said there could be job losses from the decision.

U.S. Steel Corporation has signed a non-binding letter of intent with SunCoke Energy. The agreement states that SunCoke Energy will acquire two blast furnaces at Granite City and convert it into a pig iron pellet production plant.

U.S. Steel told the Pittsburg Business Times only 550 would remain out of the 1,500 jobs at the plant.

“It is another tale in a long string of betrayals by the company, which has permanently closed nearly two-thirds of the assets it acquired from National Steel along with other acquisitions,” USW International President Thomas Conway said to the Business Times.

U.S. Steel plans to purchase the pellets from SunCoke Energy and use them to make steel at its non-union EAF (electric arc furnace) plant, Big River Steel in Arkansas, MSN reported.

The Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) wrote the U.S steel industry needs coal and natural gas for fuel.

“The shutdown of steelmaking and finishing operations at Granite City Works is a betrayal by USS of its workers and the Granite City Community,” said Dan Simmons, president of United Steelworkers Local 1899, in a press release posted on Facebook.

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development wrote that steel mills contribute to high CO2 emissions.

Simmons told KMOX that “through the pandemic, we’ve done nothing but make them record history profits. And, instead of putting money back into our facilities where they could've helped us out in the long term, they’ve taken those profits and went down to Arkansas, and they're going to turn their backs on the employees that have saved them.”

EERE added Illinois is one of several states with high numbers of steel mills.

The deal still needs the board and government approvals.