Steel mill's temporary shutdown will rattle Georgetown's economy

GEORGETOWN — They're shutting down the steel mill Friday, and everyone here knows what that means.

It'll be a blue Christmas for the Front Street stores. There will be a lot of empty tables at downtown restaurants. And local companies that depend on the mill's business will soon be in trouble.

But mostly, there will be 300 new people in the county unemployment line.

They know all these things because they've seen tough times before.

"We've been through this," said Abe Shirk, an electrical technician who has worked at the mill since 1975. "It's not just us. Everybody's scared. We're just waiting to see what's going to happen."

On Monday, ArcelorMittal announced that its Georgetown plant will shut down for five weeks. That amounts to a mandatory layoff for the plant's 300 employees. Company officials said the plant will reopen Jan. 12, but not all of the workers are confident their jobs will still be there.

The mill is just the latest victim of a recession that his hit South Carolina harder than most states. In October, the state unemployment rate hit 8 percent, nearly two points higher than the national average. In the Lowcountry, hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs have been lost because of cutbacks or lack of business.

In a state hurting badly, Georgetown County is hurting a little more. Its unemployment rate has remained slightly higher than the state average. Another 300 people out of work, even if it's temporary, will be a big hit.

Wayne Gregory, the county's economic development director, said that in addition to luring new businesses, his job is to help the companies already here. But in this instance, there's not much local government, or anyone, can do.

That's because it's not the workers' fault, and it's not management's problem. It's Detroit, it's Wall Street. Lately, there's not been much work on account of the economy.

Detroit isn't ordering steel, and neither is the appliance industry, two of the steel mill's biggest customers.

"It's very significant to us," Gregory said. "We don't want to see anyone lose their jobs, particularly around the holiday season. But this hurts our small businesses, shopping centers and restaurants. Obviously, if people are out of work, they're not out shopping."

In the neighborhood around the mill, it's apparent how much the community needs that factory working. At Ballard Iron, a company that does a lot of work for the steel and paper mills, there's been a noticeable slowdown as the recession set in.

David Ballard, the owner, said a few years ago he had 40 employees putting in 50 or 60 hours a week. Now, he has less than a dozen, and they are scraping to find them enough work to fill 32 or 38 hours in a week.

"We just don't have the work," Ballard said. "Even when a good job comes up, you can't see staffing up because you don't know how long it will last. It's not like it has been before."

The aftershocks of this current, if temporary, layoff will likely be felt all through the local economy.

At the Rusty Hook, a bar that sits between the steel mill and the paper mill, owner Wayne Carter said many of the folks coming in these days are waitresses and bartenders laid off from Front Street businesses, looking for work with him.

"It's the same way all over," Carter said.

Adam Warrington, manager of external communications for ArcelorMittal, said Tuesday that it was a difficult decision to shut down the plant, and it is "in no way a reflection on the professionalism and dedication of our Georgetown employees." The mill is just responding, he said, to the "extraordinary economic environment we are facing."

"We will be carefully monitoring the situation and we look forward to many of our employees returning to work as soon as it is warranted by market conditions," Warrington said.

A lot of steel workers know what that means. They were here when the mill, under previous ownership, went through bankruptcy five years ago. It shut down, got bought out, reopened. The old-timers have been through it all before, and they seem to be taking it calmly.

Ronnie Pierce started at the plant on Jan. 18, 1970, less than a year after it opened. He said he'll take care of the honey-do list at his house, maybe go hunting. He's at peace with what's happening because he knows it's not his fault, not any of his friends' fault. He sees the TV, knows what's happening in the world.

There are about 100 of them, Pierce said, who have been there 30 years or more. They've weathered the storm before, and hope to make it through this one.

"The young guys are the ones I feel sorry for," Pierce said. "They're trying to build houses and all that kind of stuff. We've already put our kids through college."

In other words, they'll be all right. They hope.

TOUGH TIMES

Some of the Lowcountry manufacturers that have announced or implemented temporary or permanent layoffs recently.

Company — Location — Jobs

Vought Aircraft — North Charleston — 220

Gates Corp. — Moncks Corner — 200

Leggett & Platt — North Charleston — 110

Asten Johnson — Walterboro — 95

Force Protection — Ladson — 75

James Hardie Products — Jedburg — 67

AAI Corp. — Goose Creek — 23

Robert Bosch — North Charleston — 20

Reach Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com.