USS/Kobe Steel, USX subsidiary, uses dumped foreign steel rail to build new railroad yard using non-union labor

USS/Kobe Steel, USX subsidiary, uses dumped foreign steel rail
to build new railroad yard using non-union labor

Company that complains about foreign steel dumping uses dumped steel

LORAIN, Ohio (Dec. 14) – USS/Kobe Steel Co. is using dumped foreign steel to build a new rail yard at the same time its parent company, USX, is complaining in Washington about foreign steel hurting the American steel industry.

Only two American companies, CSI and Pennsylvania Steel Technologies (PST), make steel rail for the railroad industry. An inspection by Lake Terminal Railroad workers of the new steel rail being laid at USS/Kobe for a new train yard that will be used by a non-union railroad company that plans to begin operations there on December 29 reveals that it was made in Australia.

The identification number on rail being used by USS/Kobe Steel reads: 115REVTHY199811. The HY199811 identifies the steel rail as being made in Sydney, Australia in February 1998, PST told the UTU.

"The steel rail was verified by PST as being made in Australia," said Tim Smith, UTU general chairman on the Lake Terminal Railroad. "On the one hand, you have USX, which is the joint-venture owner of USS/Kobe Steel, complaining to the White House and Congress about foreign steel being dumped in the U.S. On the other hand, USX is using dumped foreign steel to drive out a quality union railroad that has served this mill well for 104 years."

Smith added: "USX wants to have it both ways. It wants to use cheap foreign steel to get rid of union jobs. And it wants the government to stop letting foreign steel companies sell cheaper product to its customers. I’d say something smells rotten here."

In addition, although unionized steelworkers within the USS/Kobe facility are qualified to lay steel rail, the company is using cheaper non-union labor to do the job.

Beginning December 29, for the first time in 104 years, a non-union railroad will begin servicing USS/Kobe Steel. The new railroad, called IRSS, is currently building a railroad yard inside the mill because the Lake Terminal Railroad will not permit it to use its existing facility or any of its equipment. In addition, the Lake Terminal, which will only do limited interchange work beginning December 29, said that it would not permit its unionized workers to work near IRSS’s non-union workers because of safety concerns.

In the last two weeks, IRSS has had two accidents, the most serious of which was a locomotive engine derailment that spilled 200 gallons of diesel fuel and caused lost productivity in the mill’s hot metal operations.

USS/Kobe did not renew its service agreement with the Lake Terminal Railroad, which is the only railroad to service the mill for the last 104 years, because it wanted cheap, non-union workers to replace well-trained, justly compensated union railroad workers.

The UTU has been waging a campaign to save the Lake Terminal Railroad and 170 union jobs. The Lake Terminal Railroad has won national awards for safety and is the most economically efficient railroad at any USX-owned steel mill. The UTU is the largest rail and transportation union in North America. Its International headquarters are in Cleveland, Ohio.