CANTON, Ohio — Republic Steel workers in Canton said they were shocked and disappointed Thursday when they discovered they were out of a job.
"It's like somebody pulled the rug out from underneath you, that's what we feel the company did," said Bryan Rice, United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1200 vice president.
The company's Mexico-based owner announced it will idle steelmaking operations at mills in Canton and in Lackawanna, New York, furloughing 500 employees indefinitely -- less than 200 from the western New York plant, with the rest in Canton.
Operations are now moving to Mexico.
"They want to run to Mexico now because they can make the same thing that we're making and they don't have to pay the wage, and they don't have the insurance and cheap labor, and they can hire someone they don't like and they can fire them because they don't have a union over there," said Todd Fitzgibbon, USW Local 1200 president.
Fitzgibbon said working conditions have been dangerous for years and the 300-acre plant is an environmental nightmare.
In a statement, company officials said they exhausted every additional potential option besides idling the mills. It also invested $10 million to maintain compliance with environmental regulations.
"They're never going to be able to start that back up," Fitzgibbon said. "They didn't shut the boilers down right. They didn't shut the pump house down right. They have stagnant water sitting all over the place. They have raw sewage running all over the place. The place is a disaster."
Fitzgibbon said workers stayed because it was a good paying job with great healthcare benefits. Many who were already living paycheck to paycheck are now left with more questions than answers as they wait to find out what's next.
Some are battling health conditions, concerned about their medical coverage.
"So insurance is a big thing, nothing cheap about lung cancer," Rice said. "I went through seven chemos and 33 radiation and my second immune therapy Wednesday and they decided to close the plant on Thursday, so it's a bit of a bummer."
The group is hopeful they will get the pay and benefits they say they're entitled to as Fitzgibbon is calling for the government to step in and hold Republic Steel accountable for the mess they're leaving behind.
"They've run the place into the ground and they bled every drop of blood out of it and I guess its just time to walk away," Rice said.
With all of his members left unemployed, Fitzgibbons is hoping to host a job fair in the coming weeks. If you are looking to hire and would like to join the job fair, you can contact Todd Fitzgibbon at (330) 933-2422.
