Hundreds Go Back to Work in Iron Range
Hundreds of laid-off miners and and taconite workers have been recalled to work in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, where the unemployment rate has been among the highest in the nation.
U.S. Steel’s Minntac plant, the state’s largest, where the low-grade iron ore is processed for the blast furnaces, has recalled at least 1,450 people after an eight-week shutdown.
Reserve Mining Co. this week recalled about 145 employees to its mine in Babbitt and its taconite plant in Silver Bay. An additional 580 employees switched from a 32-hour to a 40-hour workweek.
12.6% Unemployment
Don Wright, a spokesman for Reserve, said the recall of workers did not reflect any additional demand for U.S.-made steel from 1984.
Unemployment in the six Iron Range counties stood at 12.6% in November, the latest month for which figures are available, said Pete Shelstad of the Minnesota Department of Economic Security.
“My understanding is that these are temporary call-backs. It will lower the rate, but it’s really not permanent,” Shelstad said Tuesday.
He said Iron Range unemployment has been near the highest in the nation since 1982, when thousands of miners and taconite workers lost their jobs.
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