Kajal Chautan posted
Robert Cracuin: I went to a symposium at the Museum of Industry and Labor on the 30th anniversary of black Monday. There was a panel of several old men who were superintendents and managers at the mills in Youngstown. They said that the mills didn’t close because of old equipment,foreign competitors, high labor costs, or EPA regulations. In fact they said the EPA regulations allowed them to continue operating. They said that the local source of iron ore was depleted by 1930. They said that the mills couldn’t make decent profits because of the high cost of shipping iron ore overland from the lake. The Youngstown mills were developing new mills on the Great Lakes and they depended on production from Youngstown to help fill their orders. WW2 came and the baby boom came and they were still depending on production from Youngstown. Remember that Rep.Kirwin proposed in 1932 to build a canal to ship iron from the lake to the Ohio River but it fizzled out. It would have fed the inland mills. It was a business decision. The integrated mills that made iron, then into steel and into finished products were obsolete by their location. I worked as an operating engineer Local 66 from 1974-2012. I saw how the mills were patched up because I worked on them. I listened to the workers complaining about pollution control we were installing and saying they needed new equipment. I also helped tear down the mills. I worked on the new mill at VM Star and people would ask why build new. VM doesn’t smelt iron. They only use scrap and scrap is generated locally. VM is the old Brier Hill Works of Youngstown Sheet and Tube. Robert Cracuin: BTW the old codgers said that Youngstown had the best steelworkers in the world and they were saddened to see them go. Gary Schreckengost: Not so much foreign competition as outdated tech in the 70 s. Worked in a melt shop n rolling mill mechanical maintenance, electric arc furnaces processing scrap dominate steel industry now, and American steel companies dominate world wide steel sales due to advanced equipment and quality unfortunately it takes a lot less people to run a steel mill Been on the industry since 1987. Don Toye: In 2008 Donald J. Trump had building projects in Las Vegas and Chicago. He had a choice to purchase steel from plants here in the US or cheaper steel from the Chinese. He chose to buy the steel from China just because it was cheaper. The Chinese were able to sell steel at slightly above cost underwritten by cooperation of banks and government, while the US steel industry was laying off workers and closing plants. Source: NEWSWEEK investigation Trump buys steel from China. Fred Rowland: That is the Brier Hill works. I worked with the Protective Service department (security) and work the Campbell plant mostly, but, I also worked at Brier Hill when needed. 1970- till the shut down. There were a lot of great men that worked for YS&T.. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company was one of the largest steel mills in the United States in the 20th century. It was founded in 1900 and closed in 1977, becoming part of the local "Black Monday" history. | 
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