Weirton Steel Issues WARN Act Notice to Employees
03/05/2004 -
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Weirton Steel Issues
WARN Act Notice to Employees
March 5, 2004 — Weirton Steel Corp. began mailing notices this week to its employees under the federal Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).
“This is merely part of the process of selling Weirton Steel’s assets. Once the sale is completed, Weirton Steel will cease to exist. Our employees will work for Weirton (Steel) until the sale closes. After that, the buyer will become the employer. This will be a seamless transition and operations will continue uninterrupted. Under these circumstances, we are required to issue WARN Act notices,” said D. Leonard Wise, Weirton Steel chief executive officer.
“We also have been contacting our customers and vendors to inform them that issuing WARN notices does not mean ceasing operations. We are continuing normal steelmaking and finishing operations now and through the sale. The buyer will pick up where we leave off without skipping a beat.”
Wise added he met last week with the company’s 400 salaried personnel to update them on the pending sale and to explain WARN. “We are confident that the sale will strengthen the facility and will help improve our ability to serve our customers’ needs,” Wise explained.
Weirton Steel announced on Feb. 18 it was selling substantially all of its assets to International Steel Group (ISG) for $255 million which included the assumption of certain liabilities. The potential sale to ISG is subject to bankruptcy court approval and is subject to an entity offering the highest and best bid during the court’s auction process. A sale is expected to be completed in April.
| Visit steelnews.com's Weirton Steel and ISG pages for additional background on these companies. |
Weirton Steel, the fifth-largest integrated steel company, filed for bankruptcy protection on May 19, 2003. The company also is the nation’s second-largest producer of tin mill products.
ISG, based in Cleveland, will be the largest U.S. steel producer if the sale of Weirton Steel is finalized. It currently has the capacity to annually cast 18 million tons of steel and operates 11 major steel producing and finishing operations in six states.
