Morton Salt is closing its underground salt mine in Fairport Harbor, in Lake County northeast of Cleveland, after a significant inflow of water was discovered in the mine on Oct. 22, and 77 workers are losing their jobs, according to a report by the Akron Beacon Journal. Morton Inc. issued a WARN notice to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reporting the layoffs, dated Oct. 26 — 69 hourly union employees and eight salaried non-union workers — and stating that the affected employees will not receive bumping rights, the Beacon Journal reported.
The closure followed what the company, in a media release issued Oct. 26, called the “discovery of a significant inflow of water in the mine” on Oct. 22, according to the Record-Courier, whose reporting was cited by the Akron Beacon Journal. The Beacon Journal described the shutdown as prompted by a safety concern after water began flowing into the mine.
The Fairport Harbor mine matters far beyond the village on Lake Erie’s shore. Morton is one of the country’s best-known salt producers, making products for grocery shelves, water softening, ice control, agriculture and industry, the Beacon Journal noted — and the Fairport Harbor operation is a source of the road salt that Northeast Ohio counties spread on winter roads.
That is where the closure could be felt most widely this winter. Because Morton Salt produces road salt, many local officials are concerned about a possible shortage for the upcoming winter season, the Beacon Journal reported. How serious any shortage becomes depends on how long the mine remains closed, and the mine’s situation is being monitored, according to the Beacon Journal.
Portage County offered one early measure of the squeeze. The Portage County engineer’s office now has about 3,000 to 3,500 tons of salt available, but it typically uses 4,000 to 4,500 tons each winter to maintain about 736 lane miles of county roads within the townships, the Beacon Journal reported. Some cities and villages are responsible for portions of county roads inside their limits, adding to the number of governments watching their salt supplies.
Portage is not alone in depending on Fairport Harbor. Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Mahoning and Trumbull counties also contract with Morton’s Fairport Harbor mine for their road salt, according to Cleveland.com, whose reporting was cited by the Akron Beacon Journal. Lake County, the mine’s home county, is among them — the same county where voters are in the final days of early voting in Painesville ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
For the 77 workers, the WARN notice is the formal start of the layoff process. A WARN notice — short for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification — gives workers advance notice at least 60 days before a layoff date, according to the U.S. Department of Labor summary cited by the Beacon Journal. The notices are required when an employer has 100 or more full-time employees, the layoffs will last more than six months and they affect at least 50 full-time employees, the Beacon Journal reported.
The detail that the affected employees will not receive bumping rights, as the WARN notice states according to the Beacon Journal, means the laid-off workers cannot claim the jobs of less-senior employees elsewhere in the company under a seniority system — the layoffs, as filed, are simply separations.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed, from the WARN notice and the company’s own release as reported by the Akron Beacon Journal and the Record-Courier: water began flowing into the Fairport Harbor mine, the inflow was discovered Oct. 22, the company moved to close the mine, and 77 employees — 69 hourly union workers and eight salaried workers — were reported laid off as of Oct. 26 with no bumping rights. What is not yet known from the reporting available Friday: how much water entered the mine, whether the closure is expected to be temporary or permanent, and what the company plans for the site and its road-salt customers while it is closed.
The timing adds pressure. Northeast Ohio is heading into the heart of the snow season — Friday itself was sunny and mild, as NewsForce247 reported in its Friday afternoon Ohio weather outlook, but county salt barns are stocked for the months ahead, not for a mild weekend, and a prolonged Fairport Harbor shutdown would force contracting counties to find replacement supply.
What happens next: county engineers in the counties that contract with the Fairport Harbor mine will be weighing their on-hand tonnage against a typical winter’s usage, as Portage County already has, while Morton determines whether the flooded mine can reopen. NewsForce247 will update this story if the company announces a reopening timeline or if counties announce alternative salt contracts.
Photo: Jstuby, CC BY-SA