Good news on Warren job front

Good news on Warren job front

An outside observer can be for- given for being confused by the ups and downs of a plant that was for decades a jewel in the Republic Steel crown, but in recent years has gone through a succession of sales, bankruptcies, different ownerships and various names.

The plant that straddles Warren and Weathersfield Township and once gave work to thousands, was down to a crew of fewer than 50 a year ago, but is now back to more than 1,000 hourly and 100 salaried employees, and has been sold once again — to a previous owner who lost the mill in bankruptcy.

Based on nearly universal praise from government and union officials for this latest transaction, we’ll join in celebrating the survival of a Mahoning Valley industrial landmark and in looking toward the future with optimism.

What was for the largest part of its life Republic Steel Corp.’s Warren works, before LTV acquired it, and was then Warren Consolidated Industries, WCI, and Severstal Steel, will now be RG Steel. Operations are well below the 2,500 employees of WCI just two decades ago, but with the U.S. automobile industry rebounding, prospects for stability and perhaps even growth are good.

The jobs at this highly automated producer of quality flat-rolled steel are the kind of jobs every area wants: manufacturing jobs that pay a solid middle-class wage or salary. They are something not only to be coveted, but to be protected.

We mention that because one of the factors that endangered this plant’s survival in the past was low-priced steel dumped on the U.S. market by foreign producers. Those of us who believe in fair trade — not free trade — shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to point out that a thousand-plus jobs are worth protecting.