AK Steel to lay off 600 in Ashland

ASHLAND -- About 600 employees at the AK Steel Ashland Works Plant and an undetermined number of employees at the company's Ashland coke plant are being laid off until at least January as the company announced late Tuesday afternoon it was temporarily idling most of its operations in the Ashland area.

"We just received verbal notification from the company," said Mike Hewlitt, president of United Steelworkers Local 1865 at the Ashland area steel plant. "A lot of our young people are sick at their stomach. It's a sad day here. Six hundred are affected by this layoff. It will leave 100 people working on a coating line."

Click for press release from company

The layoffs will be effective Nov. 22.

The company announced it was temporarily idling operations at the Amanda blast furnace, putting it on "hot-idle status." The steel plant and the coke plant employ about 1,100 workers, 275 of them at the coke plant which will continue to operate at a reduced level. A company spokesman couldn't be reached for comment about how many workers at the coke plant will be impacted by the layoffs.

"We remain hopeful that we will be able to return our dedicated and hard-working employees to their jobs as swiftly as possible," James L. Wainscott, AK Steel chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a press release. "Of course, that depends entirely on credit availability and consumer confidence, which are at the heart of this serious economic downturn."

"It will have a very negative impact on our economy," said Jim Purgerson, president of the Ashland Alliance. "It will be a lean Christmas season. It'll be very tough."

The layoffs are tied to the national economy, which is very bleak right now, Purgerson said. "The greatest concern is the uncertainty. This is a direct impact from the downturn in the auto industry. No one knows how long this recession will last."

State Rep. John Vincent, R-Ashland, called the layoffs a blow to the community.

"Our legislative delegation is ready to work on any type of state assistance that might be available," he said. "Our heart goes out to any employee affected by this. It's a very tough time. We'll keep them in our thoughts and prayers."

"It's imperative Congress pass a bailout provision for the auto industry," said Kevin Gunderson, Ashland's mayor pro-tem. AK Steel's largest customers are Ford and Chrysler, he said.

"Ashland has been very good to AK Steel and AK Steel has been very good to Ashland," he said. "My dad worked there for 38 years."

The steel plant has provided thousands of jobs over the years for Ashland area men and women. The plant had a work force of more than 5,000 in the 1960s.

"I've worked there for 40 years and never seen anything like this," Hewlitt said. The fact that the company is keeping the blast furnace on hot-idle status gives some hope that the layoffs will be temporary, he said.

"We feel for our (union) members," he said. "We'll do everything we can to help our employees and their families. We will do what we can to protect the integrity of our contract."

The layoffs will have a big, negative impact on the city, Gunderson said. "We'll need to watch our discretionary spending."

"The workers at the plant are very productive, no one disputes that," he said. "Hopefully, the economy will bounce back after the first of the year if consumer confidence returns."

Citing a recent and unanticipated downturn in the economy, AK Steel also announced it was temporarily idling its Mansfield, Ohio, operations impacting 365 employees.

Last week, AK Steel, which is based in West Chester, Ohio, lowered its projections for steel shipments in the fourth quarter by about 14 percent, citing weaker-than-expected U.S. and global economic conditions.

The company said it expects shipments to be closer to 1.2 million tons than the 1.4 million tons forecast when the company reported a jump in third-quarter profit last month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.