U.S. Steel To Start Idle Plant, Bring Back 500 Workers

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A long-idled U.S. Steel plant says they will call back hundreds of employees and restart one of two blast furnaces in anticipation of increased demand for steel.

The steelmaking facilities are at the company's Granite City Works plants in Illinois.

U.S. Steel says the increased demand is a result of the pending action announced by President Trump on new import tariffs.

"Our Granite City Works facility and employees, as well as the surrounding community, have suffered too long from the unending waves of unfairly traded steel products that have flooded U.S. markets," said U. S. Steel President and Chief Executive Officer David B. Burritt in a press release.

The company anticipates calling back approximately 500 employees beginning this month.

The restart process could take up to four months.

Both Granite City Works blast furnaces and its steelmaking facilities were idled in December 2015.