Pittsburgh's Last Steel Mill (1998)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- PITTSBURGH (CNN) -- Pittsburgh has always been synonymous with steel, but most of the mills have been shut down for years. Except for one.
In his continuing series, "American Voices," CNN videographer Tim Wall documents what many expected would be the end of an era.
Wall's attempts to tell LTV's side of the story were thwarted by the steel mill's refusal to provide access or interviews.
Had just moved into Hazelwood October 1997 lived on Monongahela St and those stacks lit up our living room at night me and my wife used to just sit there with the lights out and watch those stacks just blaze with fire..... Hazelwood wasn't the same after they shut that Mill down....
All of this happened (mills closed about 10 years earlier in the early to mid 80's in Buffalo with Bethlehem, New Republic, Hanna Furnace, etc.), because the US government did absolutely nothing to stop Japan (primarily at first) from dumping raw steel ingots and refined steel in the US as cheap imports. Keep in mind in the late 70's early 80's labor costs were much MUCH lower in Japan and Korea. This dumping of cheap imports and massive recession under Carter drove these old steel mills in the US that were barely profitable anymore to the brink. The United Steel Workers also kept on demanding higher and higher wages and refused to negotiate in good faith when it was apparent that Bethlehem and New Republic were in serious trouble. This was followed up by the Koreans dumping steel, in the early 90's and China delivered the final death blow to the US and Canadian Steel Industries in the 90's.
It's ironic too because China has basically run all of Japan's big steel mills out of business, along with most of their electronics' manufacturing, hollowing out most of their industrial base similar to what they did to us in the 80's and 90's. Of course, Jimmy Carter didn't help matters either driving up inflation to sky high levels with his anti-energy stance, and lover of massive over regulation (his administration simply didn't know what the hell they were doing). Bill Clinton was the final death blow eagerly signing CAFTA and NAFTA into law which were catastrophically one sided for China, Canada, and Mexico. It basically rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese to dump as much stuff in this country as they could ship over here and the rest of our industrial base dried up and closed down.
I Watched as one by one, Pittsburgh Steel mills closed, as the City also died slowly.
I graduated in 1983, from East Allegheny high School. And the job market by then in Allegheny was destroyed. To watch those magnific Steel Giant factory's being torn down, was and Still is, disheartening.
It's just not the same, as I roll through
the Pittsburgh of today.
It's A sad Poem, of Steel & People.
These are my memories which I remember, No dark nights, The sounds of A Working City. I remember, What I wanted to do. To work in one of Those Steel mills
I hope someday that US Steel will become big again.
Thank you for the thumbs up.
I'm happy we got a marijuana facility in McKeesport that's a big step in the right direction of moving into the new age of where the world is going to now Pennsylvania can just recreationalize it that'll be 800 to 1,000 jobs right now we're sitting in about the 200 to 300 jobs
@@steelcitytv good point lol sadly we never realized this potential disgraceful if you ask me
Too many greenies in Allegheny county now
I worked in an alloy mill in the 70s where our furnaces were electric and always wondered how different Pittsburgh would be today if they just would have converted the mills to electricity. Can you imagine the employment that would still be here and no pollution. " Just wondering " 😮
We have 1 left it’s now in aliquipa it’s are first one since 1998
Well that mill closed down a few months later.it’s now a Uber test track and Robotics lab. I made a video of it on my channel.my family mostly worked at JL Aliquippa works.
One of them guys in this video was my Uncle.
I'm confused because there current are 10 coke oven running in Clariton just a few miles south of The Burgh. I smell it every night. US steel still employees hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians and operates 3 facilities in the Mon Valley
It does not employees hundreds of thousands of anybody. It has most corporate jobs in PA but that’s all.
@@jackkeller2623 hehehe I have no idea why I typed hundreds of thousands... 😂 But out of curiosity I did look up how many employees USS has and it's over 22K. Here in the Mon Valley there are several operations going on. Then there's the big office downtown too.
It,was,LTV,at,Hazelwood,that,closed.
ATI still has operations in Brackenridge with 6 year old 2 billon dollar "automated" hot rolling mill. Vandergrift Pa., Bagdad Pa., and numerous other location's in Pa. and other states that I'm unaware of.
Who actually owns them, and what nation they hail from, is a bit of a sketchy question.
Where are they now?
They moved all around the USA. That’s why there’s Steelers fans in Florida, Texas, NC, etc.
One of them mill working guys they were talking to was my Uncle and he was a very good Man.Ltv steel screwed all the workers they didn’t even get their pensions 😔