USWA Welcomes Severstal Partnership with Wheeling-Pitt
12/31/2004 -
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USWA Welcomes Severstal
Partnership with Wheeling-Pitt
Dec. 31, 2004 — The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) welcomed the news of the agreement between Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal and Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel to form a joint venture at Wheeling-Pitt's Follansbee Coke Plant.
Under the proposed venture, both companies would share ownership of the plant and the coke produced there, with Wheeling-Pitt continuing to manage the facility.
USWA District 1 Director David McCall said that the Union fully expects the proposed joint venture, which calls for Severstal North America to invest over $120 million into the plant over the next four years, to benefit current USWA members as well as retirees.
McCall pointed out that the current contract language between the USWA and Wheeling Pitt protects the hourly workforce from suffering any negative consequences as a result of the venture. "Our members will retain all of the rights guaranteed under the innovative labor agreement we negotiated with Wheeling-Pitt last year," McCall said. "Corporate governance, seniority, transfer rights and all other provisions will continue to be protected and unaffected by the transaction."
McCall also said that the benefit trust created in the latest contract with Wheeling Pitt to provide relief for retirees who lost their health-care coverage in bankruptcy could gain from increased profits at the coke plant.
