Cliffs Layoffs Start This Weekend; More to Come

The long-dreaded layoffs at the Cliffs Natural Resources mines in Marquette County are coming this Sunday.

And there are more layoffs to come.

About 300 people will be losing their jobs.

That’s about 20% of the work force at the 2 mines.

And there’s no indication of how long the layoffs will last.

Cliffs got word out about that in November.

Now, they’re saying about 70 more unionized workers will also be laid off in March.

Under federal law, a company has to give at least 60 days’ notice anytime it expects to lay off 50 employees or more for 6 months or more.

Production at the Empire and Tilden Mines will also shut down this summer.

The Empire Mine will be idle for 7 weeks.

The Tilden Mine will shut down for nearly 4 weeks.

But that could change if the economy picks back up.

Between them, the 2 mines are slated to produce a little under 7 million tons of iron ore pellets.

That’s about half what the mines produce when they’re at full capacity.

Cliffs is cutting production by at least 30% at all its North American mines.