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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 10/07/2003 10:28:17 AM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
One of Vincennes' oldest businesses, Vincennes Steel, has temporarily laid off about half of its workforce, according to company president Kevin Day.
"It's just not a good time for building bridges," Day said. "Work is coming, though, and we hope to have everyone and everything back to normal in two months."
Thirty-six employees were told Friday they were being laid off because the company does not have work for them. Day said the company has a 71-employee workforce.
The local company fabricates steel for bridges that are built throughout the United States.
An employee with the firm said the problem stemmed from Vincennes Steel not being able to acquire the steel needed to do the work it has planned. He said the company is scheduled to begin work on a pair of projects in Tennessee and may have other work lined up in Illinois.
But without access to steel the company can't do the work.
Day stressed that the layoffs are temporary. The employees laid off for the two-month period were selected on the basis of seniority. Day said many of them were employees who have not been with the company a long time. However, there were a few who "have been here awhile." Some even have more than 20 years with the company.
Similar layoffs have occurred in the past but have not involved as many employees as this time around.
Vincennes Steel has been a fixture on Oliphant Drive since the turn of the century.
The 15 most "functionally obsolete" bridges in the U.S.
Not Just Power (U.S. Bridges, Roads, Water and Sewage Systems in Sorry Shape)
Quarter of Highway Bridges Are Deficient
Report says majority of area bridges deficient or obsolete
Report Blasts American Infrastructure
Senate GOP readies $87 billion Iraq bill that follows Bush request
Iraq:Minister says there'll be more jobs than number of unemployed
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Maybe some of them will pick up work at the Toyota plant 35 miles south in Gibson County, near Princeton. But that likely won't absorb most of them
-archy-/-
Is it because of a trade/tarriff pissing-contest type of thing?
VSC builds all-steel span structures, and reinforced concrete spans are becoming the more common choice on Interstate Highway construction, though as you suggest, replacements for the iron and steel bridges of the previous two centuries are a steady if not exactly booming business, including railroad as well as highway structures.
It's a source of some small local amusement that neither the George Rogers Clark bridge just off Vincennes' Main Street crossing into Illinois across the Wabash nor the Highway 50 Red Skelton Bridge a few miles north of town were made by the Vincennes firm- though the B&O railroad's Wabash River bridge on the St Louis now-CSX mainline is a Vincennes Steel product.
Is it because of a trade/tarriff pissing-contest type of thing?
Possibly. Though the Nucor steel plant at nearby Crawfordsville, IN has been a steady supplier in the past, and there's direct rail service between the two cities via their commoin CSX rail link- almost all of the VSC completed products are shipped out via rail, and much if not most of their raw material comes in the same way.
Nucor may have priced themselves out of the market, or other factors could be at play that are less likely to make the local newspaper. I'll know more after I've spoken with a few old Vincennes area sources, and the Evansville Courier's newspaper's business section may be a bit more detailed in their report.
-archy-/-
Indeed, more than 10 times what one engineering firm quoted for replacement of deteriorated Iraqi bridges, only to lose the bid to Haliburton at the higher rate. Sort of like decimation, only in reverse.
-archy-/-
I'm gonna have to visit Nucor's website again, just to refresh my memory as to what kinds of product they produce. Bar? sheet? plate? tube? etc. etc.
Hit the link in my post #11. But to summarize:
Welcome to Nucor Steel in Crawfordsville Indiana, site of the first continuous thin-slab cast flat-rolled steel making facility anywhere. Come on in and browse around. Visit often and don't hesitate to let us know what you think.With an annual capacity of 1,800,000 tons of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized products, we serve a broad range of customers including service centers/processors, pipe and tube, construction, mining, electrical and others.
Our wide product offering includes: Commercial Quality Carbon Grades, Drawing Quality, Drawing Quality Special Killed, Structural Physical Quality and Microalloyed High Strength Steels, Hot-rolled Coils, Hot-rolled Skin-passed Coils, Hot-rolled Pickled and Oiled Coils, and Hot-rolled Galvanized Coils, Cold-rolled Coils, Cold-rolled Galvanized Coils and Stainless 409.
-archy-/-
And thanks for the Nucor info as well. I knew they were big on the coil steel, but that's just thin sheet. It was the BIG heavy beams and girders where I was uncertain. But I can see where they could very well be a supplier for the smaller beams that are used in truss construction.
Gee, sorry to hear that John.
What happened?
Did you fire him because he became an American citizen?
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