Union: U.S. Steel Recalling Minnesota Plant Workers

Steelworkers union official says U.S. Steel plans to start recalling laid-off workers to its Keewatin Taconite plant in northeastern Minnesota starting next week.

KEEWATIN, Minn. (AP) -- A union official says U.S. Steel plans to start recalling laid-off workers to its Keewatin Taconite plant in northeastern Minnesota starting next week.

Steelworkers 2660 President Jack Thronson says the company told union officials Thursday that it will recall almost 200 workers laid off in October while doing repair work on the idled plant.

Thronson says the employees will work on maintenance projects to get the plant ready to run again. He says U.S. Steel officials told the union they would like to have the plant up and running and could recall all workers in January, but did not give a timeline.

A U.S. Steel spokeswoman declined to comment on the Keetac recalls.

Keetac was shut down last December because of the recession, putting about 400 people out of work.

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