Published Tuesday, December 31, 2002
By Michael Roknick
Herald Business Editor
With a few papers tucked beneath his arm, Ron Coxson left work at what used to be the Damascus Tube Co. plant in Reynolds for the last time Monday afternoon.
Coxson, a 30-year veteran of the plant, wasn't alone in working his last shift. About 40 other workers who have been toiling away for the last six months, mothballing the pipe and tube plant for this final shutdown, marked their last day as well.
Coxson and the others are now pondering their future.
"I have my resume out in a lot of places," Coxson said. "In the meantime I've signed up for unemployment."
The company, which now goes by the name Marcegaglia USA Damascus Division, said it was closing the plant and moving the operation to its more modern Munhall facility in Allegheny County. The privately-owned Italian concern opened the Munhall plant in early 1999.
"The only people who will be around here on a regular basis now are security people,'' said Fernando Saglio, plant manager.
Marcegaglia hasn't made a firm decision on the ultimate fate of the Reynolds plant.
"There's no definite indication if they want to sit on it, sell it or lease it,'' Saglio said. "I would imagine they're open to offers.''
Producing stainless steel pipe and tube products for the chemical, water treatment and pharmaceutical industry, Damascus opened around 1950 under private ownership and was later bought by the former Sharon Steel Corp.
In 1993 Sharon Steel sold Damascus to Marcegaglia as part of the steelmaker's bankruptcy liquidation. At the plant's height under Sharon Steel it employed 225, but after Marcegaglia bought the company employment slowly fell to 150.
After deciding earlier this year to move operations to Munhall, some of the company's Reynolds workers such as Coxson were offered jobs at the new plant. A Greenville resident, Coxson said a a two hour plus commute for a job that pays less than what he currently earns wasn't appealing.
Sandy Lake resident Wade Dell said it's going to be overwhelming for he and other Damascus workers in their mid-50s to find similar good paying jobs.
"Where else am I going to go for $15 to $16 an hour?'' Dell complained. "How many places around here do you know of that pays more than $11 an hour?''
A 33-year Damascus employee, Dell said Marcegaglia had an arrogant view and sacrificed quality in order to get bigger volume. He bitterly remembers the days under Sharon Steel ownership when workers went without pay for six weeks in order to keep the plant afloat and now those same employees are being shown the door.
"I'm one of the lucky ones, my wife has a job with hospitalization,'' Dell said.
United Steelworkers Local 3713-04 is negotiating a severance package with the company. But one worker who wouldn't give his name complained the USW said it would take union dues out of the cash portion of any final severance deal.
Randy Lamotte, the local's unit chairman, said he was trying to help workers as best as he could. He said a number of older employees couldn't bring themselves to work at the plant during its last days.
"Some of the guys said they didn't want to come back here and see the place empty -- they wanted to remember it as a vibrant shop,'' Lamotte said.
In looking to his own future, Coxson forced a smile and scratched at his thin beard as he talked about landing a decent job. Perhaps, he mused, losing his job at Damascus might lead to a career change.
"It may be one of the best things to happen to a lot of us,'' he said of the plant closing. "But then again, maybe not.''