Liberty Steel will lay off 104 employees at its Georgetown, South Carolina mill at the end of 2020. The mill was transitioned to care and maintenance in April for three months due to a drop in steel demand resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown. It has been closed for over half a year with a limited staff. Liberty Steel is evaluating the demand, supply, and market considerations for a possible restart of the plant, but as the future of the plant is uncertain, the company is proceeding with permanent layoffs on Dec 28.
Union contracts will be honored by GFG Alliance, and employees are being offered alternative employment contracts at other GFG locations.
Liberty Steel’s Georgetown mill has an annual capacity of 750,000nt (680,581mt) of steel. The mill sat idle for three years until the Liberty Steel takeover in 2018.