Georgetown, SC - The union president for the Georgetown steel workers says there is no chance the mill will be saved by July 12, putting 240 workers out of a job. The Union president and a number of local leaders held a meeting Wednesday morning, discussing what needs to be done to save the mill down road.

A grim reality faces the employees at Georgetown steel. Negotiations between the Union and Arcelor-Mittal broke down. Union president James Sanderson says time ran out to keep the mill from a temporary shutdown.

“That’s not to say you can’t work, but I don’t think you can prevent that, the mill will go down temporarily, even if we had a contract agreement tomorrow, the mill will still go down,” Sanderson said.

Wednesday morning Sanderson, local legislators, and county officials met clear the air about the contract dispute. All sides involved say their goal is to support Georgetown steel.

“These 240 people have mortgages, automobile payments, children to put in schools, their families is depending on them to work, and if we can save 240 jobs we need to do it,” State Rep. Carl Anderson Georgetown said.

The company asked workers to take a pay-cut but would not promise to return lost wages when the steel industry turned around. Another sticking point, employees would work just 24 hours a week during slow downs. Both were deal breakers with the union, but not everyone agreed to reject the offer.

“You will never get a 100 percent agreement on nothing, but the overwhelming majority made their voices heard at the meetings we had,” Sanderson said.

On July 12, work will stop at the steel mill, for how long remains unclear. Sanderson says work can not start up again until a deal is reached, once that happens, its matter of waiting on new steel orders to come in.

The Georgetown county administrator says an extended shutdown of the mill will have a major impact on business at the port of Georgetown.

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