AK Steel to Begin Winding Down Ashland Works
12/14/2015 - AK Steel Corp. is to begin sending home employees at its Ashland, Ky., USA, works Christmas week, according to the Dayton Daily News.
“Everybody should be out of the plant by the 31st of December in the hot end,” Scott Conley, president of United Steelworkers Local 1865, told the newspaper.
In October, the company said it had decided to idle Ashland’s blast furnace and other steelmaking operations there on account of competition from low-cost imports. The plant's hot-dip galvanizing line is to remain open.
The plant employs approximately 940 people; the union said it expects 615 to 620 people to be let go. The closure could last more more than six months.
“Everybody’s got to go seek other work because there’s no call-back date,” Conley said. “They’re going to lose a lot of experienced personnel.”
Ashland produces carbon steel slabs, hot-dip galvanized steel and galvannealed steel.
In October, the company said it had decided to idle Ashland’s blast furnace and other steelmaking operations there on account of competition from low-cost imports. The plant's hot-dip galvanizing line is to remain open.
The plant employs approximately 940 people; the union said it expects 615 to 620 people to be let go. The closure could last more more than six months.
“Everybody’s got to go seek other work because there’s no call-back date,” Conley said. “They’re going to lose a lot of experienced personnel.”
Ashland produces carbon steel slabs, hot-dip galvanized steel and galvannealed steel.
