Report that the steel plant in Conshohocken is for sale and new defense contract may bring back jobs

The website NationofChange.org has an article about national defense that mentions the steel plant in Conshohocken. The plant is currently owned by ArcelorMittal and in 2017 it idled a portion of the plant and reduced the workforce by approximately 150.

The NationofChamge.org article includes an interview with Kameen Thompson, president of Local 9462 (the steelworkers union) that mentions two important things. First, that the plant is for sale and second that a defense contract involving submarines could result in the steel plant adding back jobs.

From the article:

Last winter, the Pentagon ordered two more carriers from Newport News. In early December 2019, the Pentagon awarded a $22.2 billion contract, its largest shipbuilding project ever, for nine more Virginia-class nuclear submarines to be completed by 2029. Five of those will be delivered from Newport News.

The shipyard also is working on the Navy’s new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program.

That activity affects plants like the ArcelorMittal facilities in Coatesville and Conshohocken. The Conshohocken plant is now for sale, and Kameen Thompson, president of Local 9462, said the new submarine contract could prompt the next owner to reopen the rolling mill and hire 50 to 60 people.

In addition to armor plate for the Navy, the workers make steel for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles designed to withstand improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Thompson estimated that 80 percent of the plant’s work is for the military and that one-third of the plant’s 93 workers are veterans or have children who serve.

“We are a very unique mill,” he said. “We have always had veterans who made steel to protect this country.”

That is all we know for now. We will try to learn more.