Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation announced Monday that it has intentions to shut down its Allenport, Pa., plant and idle two of the three galvanizing lines at its Martins Ferry plant. WEB EXTRA: Official News Release - Job Cuts At Local Steel Plant Possible A spokesperson for Esmark Incorporated, the parent company of Wheeling-Pitt, said that of the more than 200 workers at the Martins Ferry plant, 118 could be affected by layoffs if the two lines are idled. NEWS9 is told 111 of the workers who could be affected are hourly employees, and the remainder are management positions. At the Allenport plant, 244 workers will be terminated if plans to close the plant go through, according to Bill Keegan with Esmark's media firm. Those workers are made up of 240 hourly employees and four management positions.

NEWS9 is told the unions have just been notified and it's too early to say when the layoffs and terminations could happen and which specific workers will be affected. As part of federal law, Monday's move by the company to issue such a notice gives workers at least 60 days notice of what could happen.

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