Hundreds of steelworkers, their families and local supporters rallied in downtown Granite City on Saturday afternoon to keep the Metro East mill open beyond 2027.
“We want job security with long-term commitments,” said Jason Chism, a subdistrict director with the United Steelworkers. “The biggest message of all: Let's get back to making American-made steel here in Granite City, Illinois.”
While newly acquired U.S. Steel’s reversal on Friday of its decision to quit processing steel at the mill later this fall served as a short-term win for the steelworkers and the community, the union and its supporters want to build off any momentum they’ve gained and garner the attention of White House.
The ultimate goal for the union and elected officials at various levels will be to capitalize on the scrapped plan and persuade the new Japanese owners to restart the blast furnaces and invest in the mill.
While Nippon has proposed more than $11 billion of investments for mills in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Arkansas, Illinois has never been on the list. What’s more, while other plants are protected until 2035 as part of the agreement between the federal government and Nippon, Granite City Works is only protected until 2027.
“Put that money here to the workers that have committed their lives to you and making steel,” said Mike Millsap, district director for the union. “It’s the right thing to do. They need to do it, and we need to try to push them to do it.”
Many steelworkers have interpreted the lack of investment and difference in the timeline to mean Granite City Works could be fast-tracked to close permanently. U.S. Steel idled the first blast furnace in Granite City in 2019 and idled the second in 2023.
Granite City Mayor Mike Parkinson told the crowd that the bipartisan attendance of local, state and federal officials speaks to the important nature of keeping the mill open long term.
“We have solidarity between Democrats and Republicans right here in Madison County, working together to get this mill fired back up again,” the mayor said.
While progress has been made in Granite City, some believe more elected officials could be speaking out. Steelworker Michael Pool, who’s been at the mill more than 15 years, said he’d like to hear more from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
“It's time to lay down the party disputes and understand that there's lives at stake with people that work here,” Pool said. “We need to get everybody involved.”
There are others, though, who are still pessimistic about the mill’s chances to survive long term. Darrell Elmore, who’s worked at the mill for 30 years, said he’s anticipating the mill will be closed in two years — but he’s hoping he’s wrong.
“I hate to sound like I’m begging, but help us,” Elmore said. “We’re American workers. We’ve given a lifetime of this.”
U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, told the crowd that she believes the pressure from lawmakers, the union and the community led to U.S. Steel’s change of mind.
“We have to keep the pressure on U.S. Steel and this administration to put Granite City workers first,” Budzinski said. "(We want them) to put working people in this country first — not corporations, working people. We want investment. We want those blast furnaces turned back on.”
When announcing that it scrapped its plan to wind down processing in Granite City, U.S. Steel said it found a “solution,” which the company didn’t specify.
Steelworkers local President Craig McKey believes it could be one of two things: U.S. Steel let a customer go that had been promised slabs, or the company shipped in foreign steel, which is now tariffed at 50%.
Either way, the solution only guarantees McKey’s membership two years of employment. When the blast furnaces have been operational, Granite City Works has made U.S. Steel money. Now, the steelworkers just need to convince Nippon, he said.
“For years now, they didn't want to put Granite City in their future,” McKey said of U.S. Steel. “They want to take our future away.”
