'What are they going to do?' Residents concerned about furloughed Republic Steel workers
Robert Wang, Canton Repository
5 min read
Tom Fisher, 55, of Canton Township, recalled the heyday of Republic Steel's Canton plant and expressed concern for the furloughed employees after its owner announced it was indefinitely idling steel production there.
CANTON – Truck driver Tom Fisher last transported a load of steel from the Republic Steel plant on Eighth Street NE more than three years ago.
The 55-year-old Canton Township man said over a period of many years, the quantity of steel he hauled out of state to customers like auto part makers and other Republic Steel facilities dwindled.
On Thursday, before he went to visit friends at the City Limits bar across Eighth Street NE from the plant, he read on his Facebook news feed that Republic Steel's owner Grupo Simec was indefinitely halting steelmaking operations at its plants in Canton and Lackawanna, New York, and furloughing about 500 workers.
Idling of plant production caught many off guard. United Steelworkers Local 1200, which represents about 185 workers at the Canton steel mill, and the city reported receiving no notice of the shutdown.
"It's just a shame. I feel bad for the people that work there. They dedicated their life. ... Some of them guys have been there 40, 50 years," Fisher said as he looked across the street at the plant as the warning horn of a passing train sounded.
"I remember years ago you used to see the smokestacks over there. Everybody was working. The furnace was all running. Now you look over there and it's like, it's like a freaking ghost town. You used to see people out here. Cars, I mean cars. People parked out here that worked here. There was nowhere to park around here."
The owner of Republic Steel's Canton location on Eighth Street NE announced it was indefinitely suspending production of steel at the plant.
Fisher wondered what was going to happen to the furloughed employees.
"What are they going to do? They've been there for decades," he said. "At the end of it, they're not going to have anything. I mean (the owners are) going to take the money. They're gone."
The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce is planning a job fair to connect the steelworkers with other manufacturing opportunities in the area.
While Grupo Simec's statement said the steel plant in Canton would be idled indefinitely, Fisher believed this is the end of steel production there.
"I don't think it's ever going to come back. That place has been going downhill (in terms of steel production) for years and years and years," he said. "Less people working there. In the '70s and '80s, that place had 5,000 employees at one time. Somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 people. ... All these places are going out of business because of import steel. Import stuff from foreign countries."
The owner of Republic Steel's Canton location on Eighth Street NE announced it was indefinitely suspending production of steel at the plant.
Dennis Mastin, 62, who lives a few blocks from the plant on Henrietta Avenue NE, said the plant's operations have never directly affected him and He doesn't know any of the employees.
But when told about the job losses, Mastin said, "That's horrible. That's unbelievable. So 500 people are going to lose their job. ... So where are they going to go? When you have kids. When you have grandkids. You have your life. You probably have a mortgage. You have a car payment."
One of Mastin's neighbors, a woman who declined to give her name, said she was glad the plant was closing because she was concerned the steelmaking operation was impacting the area's air quality.
She pointed to stains on the walls of her home over her garage and expressed her suspicion that emissions from the plant had caused the mess.
"All this lead and stuff," she said. "It could be something on our house or could be something in our lungs."
The Canton plant has been the subject of environmental concerns from area residents and ongoing Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement. Republic Steel has operated under a court order since July 2021 related to the amount of lead released into the air and has been in recent settlement discussions with the state.
In June, the Canton Health Department hosted a community meeting to discuss how a $302,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant would fund air quality monitoring around the plant.
What's next for Republic Steel workers and property?
Ray Hexamer, CEO of the Stark Economic Development Board, expressed concern for local Republic Steel employees.
"We announced 1,000 jobs yesterday (at the new Amazon facility in Canton)," he said. "And then you have a company go out that’s been here a long time. Our biggest immediate concern is the employees there, our neighbors, are looking for jobs now and to take care of their families. The good news is we have a network through OhioMeansJobs and Strengthening Stark and plenty of jobs open in Stark County that hopefully they can reach out and we can get them connected to the thousands of jobs that are open in Stark County. And then work on trying to see how we can repurpose that facility to attract someone else there."
Hexamer said grants are available to fund renovations of old manufacturing facilities so they can be used by other companies. He said many companies desire a work site that's connected to large amounts of electrical power, water and sewage connections.
He pointed to how Steve DiPietro and his brother Dave DiPietro bought the former Republic Steel property at 411 Oberlin Ave. SW around 2004 and eventually converted it into the Massillon Energy and Technology Park, attracting several employers.
”As any building that closes like this it takes a while to sort out what will happen with the property. The need in Stark County for buildings and sites is large," Hexamer said.
