Trump ad touts jobs at steel mill hit by layoffs
Trump visited U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works in 2018 — now threatened with 737 furloughs
President Trump salutes workers at U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works in 2018. Since last year, however, the plant has been hit with waves of layoffs, with more threatened. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
A new campaign ad for President Trump touts his 2018 visit to U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works — without mentioning that the plant has threatened this year to lay off almost 1,000 employees.
The new ad features a woman who owns a small business, who says, “I feel very confident in President Trump’s ability to get our economy back to where it was,” even though it’s been Trump’s inept handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that’s been largely blamed for the economic collapse it’s caused.
The Vice news service reported last week that the ad features a shot of the president wearing a hard hat during what’s been confirmed to be his 2018 visit to the U.S. Steel Granite City Works. During that trip, Trump crowed about how steel tariffs imposed on China had revived the U.S. steel industry — including shifts added at the Granite City Works — and he attempted to mollify farmers hit with retaliatory agriculture tariffs by saying, “China tried to hurt the American farmer because that way they would hurt me. … We're going to stick together and win together.”
Trump later gave billions of dollars to farmers in tariff bailouts, although U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin pointed out the tariffs went disproportionately to Southern cotton farmers rather than Midwest soybean growers who bore the brunt of the trade war — claims confirmed earlier this month by the General Accountability Office.
Vice pointed out the work situation also soured at U.S. Steel plants across the country, including the Granite City Works. Although the price of U.S. steel rose in 2018, it fell to half that last year, resulting in thousands of layoffs nationwide including nonunion jobs in Granite City. The online news site reported that “Trump’s tariffs traded a short-term boost for a long-term pain in the industry.”
Earlier this year, U.S. Steel issued formal paperwork required ahead of mass layoffs stating that thousands could be furloughed nationwide, almost 1,000 in Granite City. The Alton Telegraph reported that “Tony Fuhrmann, director of Madison County Employment and Training, said the local notice listed 737 positions, but ‘actual layoffs might be a lot less.’”
Vice quoted Dan Simmons, president of United Steelworkers Local 1899, as saying, “We suffered a lot. We were essential [workers], and had to get rid of some guys. It’s cost us quite a bit. It’s been a tough year.” According to Simmons, the original 737 furloughs included more than 150 union workers, and about 40 remain out of work even as the plant continues operations. “We’ve just been struggling this year, it’s been a constant struggle,” he added. “It’s been ‘cut cut cut,’ and the price of steel hasn’t been favorable.”
That all came after U.S. Steel Vice President Douglas Matthews welcomed Trump to Granite City in 2018 by leading steelworkers in chants of “Start up! Stay up!”