AK Steel Announces Layoff Plan

AK Steel, West Chester, Ohio, has announced that it is implementing a salaried workforce layoff plan due to the continuing economic downturn, which has significantly impacted AK Steel’s customers, resulting in fewer orders for the company’s steel products, the company says.

AK Steel currently employs about 1,500 salaried employees. The layoffs will likely affect salaried employees in all of the company’s plants and offices, according to the press release. While the company says it hopes the layoffs are temporary, a continuation of the economic downturn could result in some or all of the layoffs becoming permanent job reductions.

“We have the utmost empathy for our employees, and we hope they may soon return to their jobs,” says James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO. “However, we simply must continue to size our total workforce to our sharply lower customer order levels.”

In December, the company announced several cost reduction measures for salaried employees, including an indefinite 5 percent pay reduction effective January 1, freezing the defined benefit plan for salaried employees and replacing it with a defined contribution retirement benefit, and offering temporary incentives for voluntary retirements. At the time, the company said it could not rule out the need for involuntary salaried job reductions if the pay reduction and voluntary retirements did not produce the necessary cost savings.