Work With Me: Steelworker Bob Broun

Nov. 8, 2010 — -- It was poetry in motion. It was also tough enough to armor a Humvee going to war. It was a U.S. steel mill.

I spent a shift with steelworker Bob Broun and got a first-hand look at the inner workings of the North Star BlueScope Steel Mill in Delta, Ohio. I also got a first-hand feel; intense heat radiated off the 3,000-degree liquid steel.

"It's a beautiful process," Broun said of the steel making he oversees on his usual 12-hour shift. "It's something that shows that we as humans can take control of these powerful, powerful things and melt them to what we want them to be."

A delicate yet dangerous dance keeps the mile-long mill humming 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Molten steel is formed into blocks, then rolled and flattened into thin and incredibly long ribbons of steel. The steel strips zip through the mill, at speeds up to 30 miles per hour. At their final destination, they are spooled into massive coils.

Broun's typical work day starts at 6:20 a.m., when he visits his locker before the start of his 7 a.m. shift to catch up with co-workers ending their overnight shift. The plant-wide team of 340 workers is extremely tight. When the economy weakened in 2008 and demand for steel fell, workers voluntarily gave up shifts so that everyone could stay on the job and no one would be laid off.

"We are all in it together. We hurt together, we do good together," Broun said. "To me, the team is everything."

The mill's non-stop schedule means he rotates four weeks on day shift, four weeks on overnight and spends many holidays on the job with co-workers, rather than at home with his family.

During the worst of it, besides the voluntary furlough's, Broun's shifts went from 12 hours to eight hours and there wasn't any overtime or bonuses. When things really got tight, Broun's family missed some mortgage payments and almost lost their home.

He's back up to regular 12 hour shifts now, but production still is not back to where it used to be.

CLICK HERE to read Broun's submission essay.