ISRI Member Calls for Immigration Reform
A Utah-based scrap recycler and long-time member of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) is urging the trade group to push for immigration reform.
Speaking at the ISRI Commodity Roundtables held in September in Chicago, Don Lewon, president of Utah Metal Works Inc., Salt Lake City, declared that the scrap industry’s workforce is threatened by new immigration crackdowns imposed after last year’s September 11 attacks.
"Like many recyclers, particularly in the West and South, we have a number of talented and hard-working Hispanic workers at our company," said Lewon.
Lewon stated that both ISRI and U.S. business owners at large have not acknowledged their dependence on Hispanic immigrants. "The Hispanic U.S. work force is large, and we’ve failed to recognize the impact of the Latino worker on the U.S. economy," he remarked.
Since the September 11 attacks, the federal government has been much stricter in its enforcement of employer documentation of workers, mandating the filing of such proof of citizenship documents as the I-9 form.
Steel Consolidation Predicted
AmeriSteel is buying Co-Steel, Nucor has purchased Birmingham Steel and Steel Dynamics Inc. has picked up what was left of Qualitech Steel—and that could be just the beginning.
Steel industry consolidation is both underway and destined to gain momentum, according to Keith Busse, CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Phillip Casey, president of AmeriSteel Corp., Tampa, Fla. Both executives spoke to attendees of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) Commodity Roundtables, held in September in Chicago.
"I think the era of consolidation is just beginning. Over the next 18-24 months you’ll see an acceleration of activity," said Casey. He predicted that by 2005, there would be just two or three U.S.-based integrated steelmakers and four or five electric arc furnace (EAF) mini-mill operating companies in the U.S.
Casey said a "critical mass" of from 10 to 15 million tons of steelmaking capacity will be needed by surviving EAF companies, and that steelmakers will need operations over a wide geographic range and across a broad product line.
AmeriSteel, now owned by Brazil’s Gerdau Co., has made its bid to be among the survivors by picking up a former Birmingham Steel facility in Cartersville, Ga., and with its pending acquisition of Co-Steel. After the Co-Steel acquisition, AmeriSteel will have 11 mini-mills and 13 scrap facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
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