The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) intends to challenge last week's ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denying shutdown benefits to thousands of former employees of Republic Technologies International (RTI) in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New York. The ruling overturned a September 30, 2003 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Peter Economus.

The court battle began in June of 2002 when the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), a federal agency set up to insure and protect workers' pensions when their employer can not pay them, preemptively terminated four RTI pension plans to prevent Steelworkers from qualifying for negotiated shutdown pension benefits. The benefits were to become payable as a result of the sale and shutdown of RTI plants planned for August 2002.

The District Court had ruled that the pensions should be paid by the PBGC, agreeing with the union's argument that the strong expectations of RTI's former employees compelled the conclusion that the pension plans should not have been terminated until after the shutdown occurred. Judge Economus' decision would have permitted RTI employees who met long-established age and service requirements to receive shutdown pension benefits.

"The PBGC was created by Congress for this exact circumstance and has collected insurance premiums in anticipation of catastrophic events like the RTI bankruptcy," said USWA District 1 Director David R. McCall. "It's outrageous for this government agency to abdicate its fiduciary responsibility to the workers who had long looked to it for protection."

"We will appeal this ruling," McCall said. "We won once, and we will keep fighting for these workers until all other avenues have been exhausted."