Hundreds of West Virginia workers have been thrown back into job hunting in a labor market with slashed wages as a plant in Weirton closed last week. The plant closure comes as the federal government refused to impose tariffs on cheap imported tin.
“It’s a tough situation. We’re used to working locally and making a decent wage. Everything [else] around here is a 40 percent pay cut,” Dan Strapazzon, 41 years old, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about finding a new job.
Strapazzon, along with about 900 others, were told in February they would be laid off at Weirton’s Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. tin plant.
The reason for the closure, executives said, is because the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) refused to allow the Commerce Department to impose tariffs on unfairly subsidized and cheap imported tin products from Canada, China, Germany, and South Korea.
“… the ITC shockingly ruled against [the] imposition of tariffs, keeping the uneven playing field in place and making it impossible for us to viably produce tinplate,” Cleveland-Cliffs executives said in a statement about the plant closure.
Last week, many of the laid-off Cleveland-Cliffs workers headed to a job fair in the hopes of finding nearby work with similar wages and benefits. Some of the workers said they may get out of the industry altogether because of its instability.
“Up to this point, it’s provided a great life for me, my parents, and my grandparents,” Josh Martin, 28 years old, told the Post-Gazette. “But now it seems like every two years something’s closing.”
Many locals in Weirton, who rely on jobs in supporting industries, hope the tin plant will reopen under new management.
Local United Steelworkers (USW) 2911 President Mark Glyptis says he is talking with Cleveland-Cliffs and the transformer manufacturer ERMCO about retooling the plant to manufacture electrical components.
The “Godsend” idea would bring anywhere from 800 to 1,000 jobs back to Weirton, according to Glyptis.
“It’s a substantial investment,” Glyptis said. “It’s a very large investment to transform this mill into making transformers there’s a very large amount of high-tech electrical equipment that needs to be bought, installed. There’s some lead time in doing that with this equipment, but it’s a very good business to be in.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
