Rust Belt Despair: West Virginia Workers Forced to Find New Jobs as Plant Closes from Lack of Tariffs

Rust Belt Despair: West Virginia Workers Forced to Find New Jobs as Plant Closes from Lack of Tariffs


Hundreds of West Virginia workers have been thrown back into job hunting in a labor market with slashed wages as a plant in Weirton closed last week. The plant closure comes as the federal government refused to impose tariffs on cheap imported tin.

“It’s a tough situation. We’re used to working locally and making a decent wage. Everything [else] around here is a 40 percent pay cut,” Dan Strapazzon, 41 years old, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about finding a new job.

Strapazzon, along with about 900 others, were told in February they would be laid off at Weirton’s Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. tin plant.

The reason for the closure, executives said, is because the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) refused to allow the Commerce Department to

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