In session's waning days, steelworkers wait on word about unemployment benefit extension
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Al King has had to do a lot of lobbying since steelworkers on Minnesota’s Iron Range learned they were being laid off due to temporary mine closures.
King is the president of Local 6115 at Cleveland Cliffs’ Minorca Mine. He and his members quickly descended on the Capitol in early April.
“The future of the Iron Range that bleeds into every aspect of this state is in this legislative body's hands this year,” King told lawmakers at a committee hearing just over a month ago. “I beg of you to take that into consideration.”
In March, Cleveland Cliffs announced it was laying off 600 workers on the Iron Range. The manufacturer temporarily closed the Minorca Mine in Virginia and temporarily idled part of Hibbing Taconite. As it stands, the workers' unemployment insurance would run out around Christmas.
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Legislation at the Capitol would extend the benefits through June of 2026 and has a price tag that could reach as high as $15 million.
The clock is running down on the Minnesota Legislature’s 2025 session. A stack of policy bills is still being worked out and legislative leaders are bargaining behind closed doors on a budget they hope to pass by the May 19 adjournment deadline.
The unemployment benefits could be lumped into a final deal or be broken off to move separately.
Republicans and Democrats in both chambers seem eager to get this unemployment insurance bill passed.
“A lot of politics are happening right now,” King said this week. “We’re kind of just at the mercy of, you know, what people say outside of the closed doors.”
Even before the layoffs hit, King said there were signs of the mine shutting down before it closed like the company saying orders weren’t there.
When word came from the company, it said idling the mines was necessary to “re-balance working capital needs and consume excess pellet inventory produced in 2024.”
Iron Range delegation members quickly sprang into action, proposing the lengthened benefits. It’s been done before as a way to keep steelworker families from uprooting from the area in search of work during what are temporary downturns.
Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, encouraged Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy to visit some of the laid-off workers during the legislative recess last month. He said that helped.
“Seeing the humanity of this issue matters, and I think that's why you saw near unanimous support in the Senate,” Hauschild said. “Now we just have to see what happens in the House, and I'm pretty hopeful that we'll get a deal at the end of the day.”
Over in the House, Rep. Spencer Igo said their bill is moving forward.
“It could pass the House floor, go to the Senate, it could stay in a jobs bill, that's where it gets messy,” said Igo, R-Wabana Township. “But I do feel very confident that we will be getting it done here in the next couple of weeks.”
Igo has attempted to attach changes to environmental regulation to a bill in the House. One would clarify rules for reactive mine waste, which supporters say would address vague language that has led to legal challenges and project delays. The rules and deadlines would be set for site specific sulfate standards.
Igo said the changes are important for preserving the mining industry and could still be attached to a bill.
Gov. Tim Walz told MPR News this week that extending the unemployment benefits for these workers is a priority.
“It’s gotta be,” Walz said. “I’d love to sign that.”
Those should be encouraging words for the steelworkers who aren’t sure when they’ll be back on the job.
But nothing is certain with a closely divided Legislature struggling to reach a deal on a new state budget before lawmakers pack up and head home.