“U. S. Steel has indefinitely idled Granite City’s primary operations and will meet customer demand by leveraging the company’s active iron and steelmaking facilities. This action was taken in order to help ensure melt capacity is balanced with our order book,” a company spokesperson told KMOV-4 TV in St. Louis, Mo., USA. 

U. S. Steel in September said it was temporarily idling Granite City’s B furnace as a result of the United Autoworkers strike. The A furnace had already been idled. The job impact includes roughly 400 employees who had been laid off under the September action, according to St. Louis Public Radio.

In a letter to employees, Scott Buckiso, senior vice president and chief manufacturing officer for U. S. Steel’s North American flat-rolled segment, said finishing lines will continue to run using slabs from other facilities.