.@realDonaldTrump is running an ad claiming he built "the best" economy in US history and will do so again. That ad uses footage of him at a steel plant that recently laid off hundreds — part of industry-wide layoffs that predate COVID. vice.com/en_us/article/…
U.S. Steel issued layoff warnings to 737 Granite City, Ill. steelworkers in late April. Hundreds were let go. Though the company wouldn't tell me exactly how many, at the time they were planning 2,700 layoffs nationally and warned 6,500 people they could be let go.
"We suffered a lot. We were essential [workers], and had to get rid of some guys," United Steelworkers local president Dan Simmons told me. "It's cost us quite a bit. It’s been a tough year."
U.S. Steel had already done three rounds of layoffs in late 2019/early 2020 because of plunging steel prices. Independent analysts say Trump's tariffs did little to help the industry, and may have hurt long-term.
.@steelworkers spox Jess Kamm Broomell: "Donald Trump likes to use workers as props... It's not surprising that someone who deals only in photo ops would ignore the real workers, families and communities that continue to suffer on his watch."
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