Buckeye Reporter

Cleveland-Cliffs might call Ohio home — but from the looks of their latest decisions, you wouldn’t know it.

This week, the state’s largest steel manufacturer announced it will idle operations at its Dearborn, Michigan plant, sending 600 workers to the unemployment line. And if you think that’s just Michigan’s problem, think again. When Cleveland-Cliffs turns its back on its workforce in the Midwest, it sends a chilling signal to workers right here in Ohio: they’re next.

Cleveland-Cliffs is headquartered in Cleveland. It markets itself as the heartbeat of American steel. Its executives wrap themselves in the American flag and make the rounds in Washington touting tariffs, trade enforcement, and “re-shoring” industrial capacity. But when it comes time to walk the walk? They’re cutting jobs and closing facilities, all while chasing a billion-dollar buyout of U.S. Steel.

The Dearborn layoffs are the latest in a pattern. Add that to the 630 workers let go in Minnesota earlier this month, and the picture is clear: Cleveland-Cliffs is scaling back, not investing. Yet CEO Lourenco Goncalves is aggressively lobbying to buy out U.S. Steel — promising the moon while his own house is on fire.

Ohioans should be asking, if Cleveland-Cliffs can’t protect jobs in Dearborn or on the Iron Range, how will they protect jobs in Lorain? In Middletown? In Cleveland? These aren’t theoretical concerns — they’re looming threats, especially when the company continues to cite "market conditions" as justification for its shrinking footprint.

The company is betting on future political wins instead of taking responsibility today. Cliffs says it might restart operations once President Trump’s trade policies are fully implemented. That’s not a plan, it’s wishful thinking. And in the meantime, 600 families in Michigan — and hundreds more across the Midwest — are left with pink slips and uncertainty.

If you’re a steelworker in Ohio, that should worry you. If you’re a business owner in a town that depends on a local mill, it should alarm you too. And if you’re a policymaker trying to bring industrial jobs back to our state, it should enrage you.

Cleveland-Cliffs doesn’t need a merger — it needs a reckoning. Before it buys anything else, it must prove it can protect and grow the jobs it already has. That means real investment in workers, transparency about its long-term plans, and a commitment to Ohio communities beyond corporate PR and political grandstanding.

Ohio has always been the bedrock of American manufacturing — but that legacy is under threat. If Cleveland-Cliffs wants to claim the mantle of American steel, it should act accordingly. That means no more layoffs, and no more chasing mergers while people lose their livelihoods.

We don’t need more steel slogans. We need steel jobs — right here in Ohio.

Adrienne Ferguson is a content creator for various media organizations.