HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) -- The United Steelworkers union says it is working with Russian steelmaker Severstal to find a buyer for Severstal's plants in Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio.
A spokesman in Washington said Thursday the union wants the plants sold as a package.
The trade journal American Metal Magazine reports that Severstal wants to hear from potential bidders by Friday.
A Severstal spokeswoman in Dearborn, Mich., declines to comment on what she calls "market rumors and speculation."
In 2008, Severstal acquired the Sparrows Point plant near Baltimore, the former Wheeling-Pitt operations based in Wheeling, W.Va., and the former WCI Steel plant in Warren, Ohio. The union says the plants have a combined work force of about 6,000.
