US flat rolled steelmaker AK Steel announced Thursday that it is implementing a salaried workforce layoff plan due to the impact that the economic downturn has had on orders for the company's products.
AK currently employs about 1,500 salaried employees. The company expects the layoffs to affect salaried employees in all of the company's plants and offices. AK says that it "hopes" the layoffs are temporary, but it warns that a continuation of the economic downturn could result in some or all of the layoffs becoming permanent.
"We have the utmost empathy for our employees, and we hope they may soon return to their jobs," said James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO. "However, we simply must continue to size our total workforce to our sharply lower customer order levels."
In December, the company announced it would implement cost reduction measures for salaried employees, including a five percent pay reduction effective January 1, freezing the defined benefit plan for salaried employees and replacing it with a defined contribution retirement benefit, and offering temporary incentives for voluntary retirements. AK did caution at that time that it could not rule out the need for involuntary salaried job reductions if the pay reduction and voluntary retirements did not produce the necessary cost savings.
In other AK Steel news, on Friday, the board of directors of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) elected Mr. Wainscott to serve as chairman of the AISI until May of 2010, following the resignation of the outgoing chairman, Steel Dynamics Inc. CEO Keith Busse.