A total of 525 hourly workers are being recalled at AK Steel Corp.'s Ashland Works plant as of today, Feb. 2, as the company prepares to restart the blast furnace there.
The company announced plans to restart the blast furnace at the steel plant in February and take down the blast furnace at Middletown Works for 45 days of heavy maintenance starting in early March. AK Steel will be replacing the hearth in the furnace, according to Jim Wainscott, president, chairman and CEO of AK Steel.
Orders for the company's products have remained low, so only the Middletown furnace has been running. The local facility also includes a hot strip mill, said spokesman Alan McCoy.
The company began calling workers in January. The Ashland blast furnace was put on hot idle status in November due to decreasing orders. Most of the plant's 700 workers have been laid off since then.
AK Steel reported a loss of $430.6 million in the fourth quarter for 2008.
Original report by Jessica Heffner at Middletown Journal
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