Steel mill.
Those two words together have always produced a love/hate relationship inside the city of Georgetown. If you are a local or just recently moved here, you pretty much have an opinion on the placement, importance and look of the steel-producing plant on the edge of Winyah Bay. You love it. You hate it. One thing is for sure, it has stood the test of time for decades.
However, anyone who knows the steel industry knows there are "ups and downs" that are associated with production. Unfortunately, ArcelorMittal-Georgetown is experiencing the biggest downside seen in years. The time could not have been any worse.
More than 240 people are now going through an extended layoff period. I am one of them. It's hard for me to sit here and write this because I loved doing what I did best: Producing and shipping wire rod to our customers across the country. All of us enjoyed what we did. We took pride in knowing we made top-quality steel from scrap, literally.
As we fall on hardships, we cut back in spending. It's a simple fact that steelworkers are not going to have sons or daughters participating in business-as-usual extracurricular activities. There won't be the frequent dining out to local eateries. The church donations on Sunday may not be as much as they used to be. The portraits of families taken will decrease. Businesses will be affected by our cash-strapped situation.
But steelworkers will still be in Georgetown.
And I guess knowing that, some people who have always hated the mill's location in the city (or just its simple existence) see now as a fitting time to launch a full-scale attack on it, its workers and the history all together.
In 1997, the steel mill, under different ownership, locked out employees during a bitter contract dispute. It was cold. I should remember. I was on Christmas break from college and walked the line a couple of times with the locked-out employees. I even walked at night. The wives and other relatives used the union hall's kitchen to prepare what breakfast, lunch and dinner they could for the employees and drove them to the gates where the employees were at.
There was also a march. Hundreds of steelworkers, their families and friends paraded down Front Street on a cold winter day. The majority of business owners there had signs of support for the steelworkers in their windows. There were some who cheered us on as we walked by. I walked with them as did my younger brother. We shared in the pain the rest of the steelworkers suffered from. After meeting back at the union hall, I spoke to steelworkers of whom I grew up with because of my father. These people were like family to me then. I could hear them with a tear in their eye as they told me and others amongst them they were happy to see businesses in the city supporting them. It gave them strength.
The dispute ended in early 1998 and workers went back to work, doing what they did best.
That's a short memory I have and it's never faded from my mind. Sadly, it's a distant and unpleasant memory to the city in this day and age.
People in the city of Georgetown would be hard pressed to recollect the bloody union-recognition battle there in 1970-71, when United Steelworkers Local 7898 got a contract after a six-month walkout. The same battle that had a S.C. governor call out the state's National Guard against steelworkers marching for better wages, a safe workplace and decent treatment all together. I can assure you the steelworkers who experienced the confrontation haven't forgotten. I can also assure you that city businesses were glad they went back to work.
Decades ago, Front Street businesses and the steel mill had a good relationship. I wouldn't say it was the best of ones, but it was better than what could have been predicted by out-of-towners.
But something happened.
The idea of tourism and its city-saving dream has never become a reality. But in these tough economic times, the anti-mill citizens of Georgetown are ready to try again with the dream, only this time they want it known that they want the steel gone for good. They couldn't wait to hear the news of the steel mill experiencing hard times. Looking for an opportunity, they pounced.
In conversations on the Georgetown Times Web site and elsewhere, anonymous people have lined up, one by one, to cast stones at the mill, its workers and families who are supported by the steel mill. With our updated technology, it only takes a second to spew hatred towards others and run without being accountable for it. And that is exactly what is being done here in Georgetown. We have our own people condemning our own steelworkers, all you have to do is read the local Web sites.
Two comments in particular have stuck with me. A person I was debating on a message board said that steelworkers are not working class people. Another comment, in its entirety, basically says the steel mill is the root of poor tourism. "There's this big brown eyesore down by the waterfront that means people can only point their expensive cameras in one direction, see? They're all afraid to drink the water, too."
If they are afraid to drink the water, then why are fishing charters running out of Georgetown, selling seafood from the docks and catching fish for consumption? The fish "drink" the water. Some of our own steelworkers shrimp the same waters and they still live healthy lives. What gives?
My wife and I bought seafood from a local business here and the fish and shrimp came from Georgetown. Seems to me that for one to make such a comment it would not help, but hurt chances of people fishing in our waters. Residents and tourists alike.
They're all excuses, people. And they have been said, written and yelled before. Time and time again. But this time is different. There is an eagerness, even amongst certain city leaders, to fold the mill. They want taxpayer-funded tests on the mill's grounds during a time the city has seen red and has had to cut back spending already. But I guess instead of making sure city employees have quality health care, we can afford to test just in case. Go figure.
This year makes nine years of service inside the plant for me. I am part of the brotherhood I grew up admiring. I came back home to give back to a community, doing what I was eventually meant to do. (I did fight the notion of working inside a steel mill for a while.) I have always liked the atmosphere of a mill compared to the desk surroundings I briefly encountered. During college summer breaks, I worked in the mill to pay for books and my tuition for the following year. I did this my entire time at school. I wasn't the only student. Dozens benefited from that experience.
I love doing what I do as a job. All steelworkers do here in Georgetown. And trust me, the steelworkers see and hear the negative tones that are hovering over our city's steel mill. They hear it from people as they walk down the street. They see it in people's eyes when we say we're steelworkers. They can't fathom the idea that people dislike them for just doing a decent, honest job.
I am an optimistic person. I see the mill opening back up. ArcelorMittal is already restarting blast furnaces in France because Europe's inventory is almost nil. Steelworkers know the business. They know what it takes to be a working class hero in a industry where it takes such people to do a job without getting killed or injured. And with that, we still have the unfortunate accidents happen in the workplace.
It's not an easy job. I recommend those who think steelworkers aren't working class to apply for a steel mill job or tour a steel mill in the summer. The tune will change.
Whether you knew the mill as Georgetown Steel under German ownership or have come to recognize the Indian-owned ArcelorMittal, it's always been a Georgetown steel mill. It has always employed Georgetown residents and their relatives. It has always given business to Georgetown merchants. It has always contributed to Georgetown's causes. It's a staple here in the city and the state. And to be perfectly honest, not one single tourist could ever replace a steelworker in this town. Not one single service job could replace a manufacturing job. And not one single anti-mill person can convince a pro-mill person otherwise.
God bless the steelworkers, the industry they work and die for and the working class people they represent. God bless their families as they endure uncertainty, and ridicule from those unknown.
Stay strong, my brothers and sisters. Our time will come again.
