Wheeling will suspend steel production at a plant.

Citing a strike threat by the United Steelworkers union, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel said it will suspend primary steel production at Steubenville, Ohio, to protect its furnaces from damage in a hurried, unplanned shutdown. The USW’s chief negotiator for Wheeling-Pittsburgh’s 8,200 production workers immediately called the announcement a bargaining ploy. The nation’s seventh-largest steel producer, now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, claims it could also be forced into Chapter 7--outright liquidation--without a 29% cut in current hourly labor costs.