Butler Works employees relieved at energy rule extension
Michael Uram, a maintenance worker at Cleveland-Cliffs, said the loss of the Butler Works plant would have also devastated numerous jobs and job prospects for skilled workers.
News of the U.S. Department of Energy altering its new energy standards from its initial proposal slowly made its way through Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works on Thursday, April 4, leading many of its workers to breathe a sigh of relief. Butler Works employs countless labor workers, Uram said, who may not have other opportunities for good-paying jobs like the ones available at Cleveland-Cliffs.
“I didn't go to college, so a place like that means a lot to people like me,” Uram said. “The importance of that mill is to preserve those jobs for future generations.”
Giving Cleveland-Cliffs more time to adjust to the energy efficiency standards has led workers of Butler Works to get a little more comfortable with planning for the future.
Mark Earley, financial secretary for the UAW Local 3303, said the possibility of the plant closing led him to fear he would have to find a new job, a sentiment shared by many longtime employees of the plant.
“It was highly concerning; I’m 57 years old, taking on a new career would be next to impossible for me at this point,” Earley said. “People seem to be relieved.”
Lisa Hutchinson, recording secretary for the United Auto Workers Local 3303, said while the rule was in its proposal stage, union members who were unsure if they would have a job in the coming years put big purchases on hold.
“You have young families here, people with kids in college,” Hutchinson said. “People were asking, ‘Should I buy the house? Should I buy the car?’ while this was happening.”
The U.S. Department of Energy’s final energy standards, released Thursday, April 4, indicate Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works will have five years instead of three years to comply with new efficiency standards. The new standards represent a marginal increase to the minimum efficiency allowed in distribution transformers — efficiency that is currently only met by transformers with amorphous metal cores. Cleveland-Cliffs now has five years to get its grain oriented electrical steel cores to the U.S. Department of Energy’s efficiency standard.
The announcement to increase the minimum efficiency by 2029 comes after Cleveland-Cliffs management, union leaders and elected officials opposed the proposed mandate, raising concerns the jump in energy efficiency requirements was too wide for the plant to bridge in just under three years and would potentially risk 1,300 jobs at the Butler Township plant.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, said the modification of the rule can be attributed to the outcry from the Butler community, and the constant work from Cleveland-Cliffs officials and its union.
“The sudden reversal of this rule is a direct result of the Butler community’s massive pushback against this wrongheaded decision,” Kelly said. “Thank you to union leaders at UAW Local 3303 and to the ownership of Cleveland-Cliffs for standing strong and opposing this rule to achieve a positive result for the workers and the community.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in March sent a letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which said the Department of Energy’s proposed rule went too far too quickly. He said his conversations with the White House and the Department of Energy got the message across that the new rule would be detrimental to Western Pennsylvania.
“Pennsylvania is a national energy leader, and the skilled workers at Cleveland Cliffs in Butler County know how to build the transformers that power our nation’s critical infrastructure,” Shapiro said. “I engaged directly with (energy) Secretary (Jennifer) Granholm and the Biden administration to ensure Pennsylvanians’ concerns about the proposed rules were heard, and I want to thank them for making sure the final rule will allow for Butler Works to continue its existing line of steel production.”
Jamie Sychak, president of UAW Local 3303, said many employees of Butler Works rallied alongside him to make the efficiency mandate more reasonable, because they all would have lost their livelihoods if the plant could not adjust to the proposed guidelines.
“Nobody has had more at stake than the people working here,” Sychak said. “From one end of the spectrum to the other, they are greatly relieved.”
