US Steel to idle furnace as profit sharing hits high gear
US Steel Corporation announced it will take its No. 13 blast furnace at its Gary (Indiana) Works offline at the end of May.
US Steel had previously planned to idle No. 13 on August 1 but feels the May timing will allow a more efficient major rebuild. By idling earlier than expected,
US Steel will be able to run its four other domestic mills at higher capacity while better meeting customer demand for flat-rolled products.
US Steel had projected 14.5 million tons of annual flat-rolled shipment. Thus far, however, second quarter shipments are expected to be about 7% lower than first quarter shipments.
In other company news,
US Steel announced that each of its 17000 United Steel Workers (USW) members will receive their profit-sharing checks later this week.
USW reported today (May 12) that first-quarter profit sharing will be calculated at $7.01 an hour for a maximum of 480 hours ($3,364.80).
US Steel spokesperson John Armstrong said, The profit sharing reflects the excellent first quarter we had.
2005 first quarter profit sharing bonuses increased approximately 8% ($283) over the previous quarter.