Rail mill and steel production workers have been temporarily sidelined at the Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel Mill in Pueblo, but should be back to work by Feb. 18.
According to Eric Ludwig, president of the United Steelworkers Local 2012, about 250 members of his union have been affected by the temporary layoffs. Cnc Machined Components
"Production employees have been laid off temporarily and everyone has their return to work date," Ludwig said. "It's not long-term or anything like that."
Layoffs started Jan. 21 and workers "start coming back next week," Ludwig told the Chieftain.
"When they went out, they were told it was a 2 to 4 week layoff. I told them to expect 2 to 6 weeks in case the company was wrong and it was going to be longer," he said. "Return dates are based on seniority. Everybody will be back by Feb. 18."
United Steelworkers Local 3267 President Chuck Perko said the layoffs were prompted by a "temper tantrum by the railroads who have been used to getting their way since 1850."
"This is what that looks like when you sell to the railroads — we tried to raise our prices a little bit and they didn't like that," Perko said.
Evraz officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Chieftain on Monday and Tuesday.
During the temporary layoffs, workers will qualify for benefits and unemployment compensation, but "it's not as helpful as it was during the pandemic," Perko said.
"It softens the edges, but it is definitely not anywhere near what you were making before," he said.
Evraz laid off about 200 Pueblo steel mill workers from the spring of 2020 to the spring of 2021 due to an oil and gas industry slowdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers were "able to ride it out because what we were making on unemployment was almost identical to what we were making before," Perko said.
"There is a possibility of a crew reduction. That is where the question marks come in right now because we don't know," Perko said.
"If there is a crew reduction for a short time, with my local (union) it may affect 20 people and we have been so short-staffed that we can create a couple of positions to cover sick leave, call-off relief and FMLA maternity leave."
The temporary layoffs do not affect the new long rail mill, where the welding operation went online in the fall.
In a Jan. 26 post on LinkedIn, the Pueblo team was congratulated for "completing their first production order of 1,600-foot, continuous welded rail produced and welded on-site." A total of "1,533 tons of rail, more than 15 miles, were recently loaded onto train cars at our Pueblo mill and shipped to one of our customers." "We've come a long way over the last nine months. From taking a mill that never ran a single rail through it to completing 80,000 feet of welded rail. All the teams responsible for this project have stepped up their game and have taken a lot of pride in what they're doing," said Hudson Trent, rail welding manager at the Pueblo mill, in the LinkedIn post. "Construction of new rail mill continues, and the completion of the rail weld line marks an important milestone in the journey," the post stated.
The layoffs in Pueblo come as the United Steelworkers are in their second year of a historic four-year bargaining contract with Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel mill which was inked in October 2022 and called for a 7% increase in wages the first year and a total 18% wage increase during the life of the four-year contract.
The contracts between Evraz North America and two United Steelworkers unions cover about 900 of the mill’s 1,100 employees. The United Steelworkers Local 2102, overseen by Ludwig, represents production and maintenance staff and Local 3267, overseen by Perko, represents office, technical and plant protection staff.
"The only way it (the temporary layoff) gets worse is if people are unable or unwilling to ride it out and suddenly we have to be back nose to the grindstone and we don't have the people because they've all jumped ship. That's what scares me because when the railroads want rail, they want it fast, so if we don't have the people to create it, then we will start to lose customers to other mills," Perko said.
"When they need their rail, they expect to have it on time," Perko said. "I am trying to do everything I can to make sure people aren't afraid of what's coming — we've hired a lot of people in the last year who are going to be affected temporarily and I feel really bad for them."
More:Evraz, Pueblo steelworkers ink new contract with 7% raises this year
Aluminum Metal Fabrication Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via X, formerly Twitter, at twitter.com/tracywumps. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.