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Warren metal plant might close
By Kalea Hall
WARREN
An area union leader has received a notice from metal-parts manufacturer LB Steel LLC of intent to shut down its steel plant in the city.
Jose Arroyo, business representative for United Steel Workers in the Youngstown/Warren area, said he received a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act – or WARN – notice from the Harvey, Ill.-based plant Oct. 15 with its intention to close the Warren facility in 60 days.
Concord Steel produces and supplies steel counterweights, elevator weights, elevator test carts, test weights, stage weights, scaffold weights and frame-weight components.
“The union is extremely disappointed,” Arroyo said.
A company representative reached Tuesday declined to comment.
A total of 11 employees work at the plant located at 1451 Buena Vista Ave. NE. Arroyo said the plant had about 120 workers in 2009.
The intent to close the Warren plant comes after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It listed assets of between $10 million and $50 million and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million in documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Illinois. The company filed for bankruptcy after a decision in a lawsuit between Walsh Construction Co. of Illinois and LB Steel that will cost the company millions.
“Having considered the liabilities and liquidity situation of the company, the company’s negotiations and inability to reach a resolution with Walsh Construction and the potential actions and other creditors Walsh Construction may take against the company and its assets as a result of the litigation, the strategic alternatives available to the company and the impact of the foregoing on the company’s business,” LB Steel leaders decided it was best to file for bankruptcy, according to its Oct. 14 filing.
The company also operates Topeka Metal Specialities in Topeka, Kan., and LB Steel Main Plant in Harvey. Those plants also received a WARN notice.
The company says it will seek to sell all or substantially all its assets to a third party, according to the WARN notice.