Politicians meet with ArcelorMittal
|
| Area politicians and union officials listen as Duane Calbow, Putnam County board chairman (second from left), speaks at Monday's press conference at the Hennepin Village Hall. Also attending the conference was union president Dave York (from left), Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Peoria), Sen. Gary Dahl (R-Granville), and Hennepin Mayor Kevin Coleman. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt) |
HENNEPIN — When ArcelorMittal announced its plans Dec. 9 to shut down the steel finishing plant in Hennepin, Dave York, president of United Steelworkers Local 7367, said the union wouldn’t sit back and watch it happen.
And it isn’t.
On Monday, York and Congressman-elect Aaron Schock, Sen. Gary Dahl (R-Granville), Hennepin Mayor Kevin Coleman and Duane Calbow, Putnam County Board chairman and vice president of the union, met with representatives of the company at the Putnam County Courthouse. Those representatives included ArcelorMittal employees from Chicago and Washington D.C., as well as Mark Whalen, general manager of ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor plant.
At a press conference following the meeting, Schock said he was “concerned and shocked” when he received the news about the plant closing. Schock said the Hennepin plant is a very productive facility, and he would either like to see the business stay open or find an alternative use for the building.
Schock said the ArcelorMittal employees made no promises, but he hopes there will be another meeting for additional discussion sometime after the holidays.
Dahl said the closing would be devastating to the workers and to Putnam County as a whole, and called it “bad news for all of us.” He said the plant was profitable and was making money, although it was operating at only 60 percent of capacity. He said the company’s stated reason for closing it was because it duplicated existing capacity, which was not good for the community.
Dahl said there needed to be more negotiation, particularly with the higher echelon of ArcelorMittal.
“The people we spoke with were employees and not necessarily the decision makers,” he said. “We would like to talk with the top guys.”
Coleman discussed the economic impact of the closing and said the village was eager to work with the company to find another solution.
“The steel mill has to stay open,” he said.
Calbow talked about the 285 workers who are fearing for their jobs.
“It wasn’t good enough for us to be the best,” he said. “We won’t go down easy, and we’ll do what’s necessary.”
York said the meeting was a step in the right direction, and the union would continue to fight to make the company live up to their agreement.
“They are clearly violating our contract,” York said.
York said the state of Illinois gave ArcelorMittal incentives to come to Illinois, but that, as a global company, it is more focused on global issues rather than local.
York said the union is challenging ArcelorMittal’s right to close on several points, including a failure to provide capital funds for growth to improve the plant, not honoring partnership language, and not honoring North America growth languages.
Although the meeting was not quite what any of the men had hoped for, Schock said the one piece of good news was the ArcelorMittal was willing to send anyone to the table.
“It’s a good first step,” he said.
Calbow said the employees are just asking for a chance.
“All the people want to do is work,” he said.
