MCKEESPORT, Pa. (AP) -- U.S. Steel Corp. is laying off 142 union workers at a Pittsburgh-area tube plant, citing unfairly traded imports as the reason.
About 95 workers will keep their jobs at the McKeesport Tubular Operations plant about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Spokeswoman Courtney Boone says the company believes the supply-and-demand problem is driven largely by subsidized imports which U.S. Steel contends violate trade laws.
The tubular business had been benefiting from the Marcellus Shale drilling boom. But when the steel giant forecast its fourth-quarter earnings last month officials said they expected the tubular business to turn a profit, but on far less the $102 million operating income reported in the previous quarter.
U.S. Steel says in a statement that it can't speculate on what might happen to the plant in the future.