Steel

It's amazing how quickly things can change in a matter of years; especially if you look at the steel industry in the United States. Earlier this decade, the steel mills and iron ore mines across this nation were struggling big time. Many were closing up completely or companies were consolidating. When I was a summer student were I currently work in 2003, we were amongst a large group of our fellow hourly workers where a group of management told us how bleak things looked for the future and how we'd probably only sustain another five years of operations. Now fast forward to today - where we can't make enough steel for demand. Prices for steel are through the roof and continue to go higher. Look at scrap iron across this nation, the money for such commodities is incredible. And guess who we have to thank for this? The Chinese, of course!

The mine where I work has always been targeted for closure even when I was a summer student. When the steel industry was going through a rough patch in 2001, the company made numerous cutbacks and nearly shuttered the mine completely. You can bet they're glad they didn't. Now, old grinding mills that haven't ran for close to two years are being brought back to life. Basically when they were shut down for mechanical problems, they were deemed too unimportant to fix and re-start. We were doing just as good focusing on the grinding lines we had running and repairing those on a timely basis. Now it appears we need every grinding line we can get. The company has contracted out the work on these two particular lines and contractors are all over the place repairing corroded structural steel, installing new equipement, and basically making these grinding lines like brand new. It's an amazing transformation to the old mill and I kind of find myself in amazement to see it all happen. Additional grinding lines are also being looked at to see if they can be brought back into the system as well; but those require much more extensive repairs since they've been down much longer than a couple of years. In addition, our plant has two filter bays - an old side and a new side. On the old side, several of the old filters have been shut down for years because the tank that holds the slurry before it gets dried had become too corroded and were rusted out very badly. The company is installing three new filter tanks, allowing us to filter much more dirt. We also need vacuum in order to dry out the dirt as they are filtered in the filter bay. One of the components that allows us to do this is running vacuum pumps. Many of the vacuum pumps on the old side are old - circa 1950's and 1960's and when they break down, parts end up being hard to come by because those pieces of equipment are basically obsolete. So the company has purchased a brand new vacuum parp - a much more modern version that's over twice the size of our older pumps which should increase our vacuum capacity greatly. It's so great to see this much work being completed in the old mill. Heck, in three short years, we were scheduled to close. Now would the company be putting this much money into the plant if we were going to close then?

But of course, the company did hold an important news conference about a month back annoucing the expansion at our mine. The life of the mine has been extended until at least 2018 - and I've got to believe it'll be longer than that. And it's also rather hard to believe that in almost a month, our current labor contract will expire. As of now, a new contract has not been reached but probably the most suprising thing of all - none of us have heard a thing about how contract negotiations are going, whether it looks like we're going to strike or not, or if the company plans on hiring scabs to run the facilities if we go on strike. Because the way it looks right now, all indications are that management will run the two mines in our area with scabs or salary personnel. It's actually amazing how different the mood of the employees is between 2004, when the last contract was hammered out to now. I mean, the company is making billions of dollars and the morale of the employees, for the most part, is good. Now, that's not to say that things could change very quickly in just a matter of days. That's the funny part about where I work - one day things are so positive and everyone's sprits are high, then the next day everyone is down in the dumps because of some negative rumors. It's like a rollercoaster ride; you never know which part of the track you'll be on from day to day.

So needless to say, things at work right now are quite positive. I know I've discussed the contract situation in this blog in the past and the uncertainty that awaits everyone working in the mines. I wouldn't say the uncertainty has diminished completely; but it's diminished a lot. I would be quite surprised if we end up on strike considering how well the company is doing and the amount of work that is occuring within the plant itself. But in this day of shrinking pensions and eliminated health care plans, you never know. I know we're looking at the opposite end of the spectrum with this comparison, but look at GM. They were once the pride of America. Now they are struggling to stay afloat and are taking the medical coverage away from their retirees. The company that I work for just might follow that trend despite the good times that we're currently in. But that's what we have a union for; to fight to save those important issues. Do I expect to have a pension when I retire in 2030 or beyond? Probably not; but that's what my 401K is for. Always expect the unexpected in the steel industry.