CSC STEEL Union leader seeks to replace health benefits

The plan is tied to a new health policy the company wants to establish for the skeleton crew still working.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WARREN -- The president of United Steelworkers of America Local 2243 thinks he's found a way to replace health benefits CSC Ltd.'s hourly employees lost when the steel mill's lenders cut off insurance payments earlier this week.
John Kubilis, who heads the local representing about 1,100 hourly workers at the financially troubled plant, said the key to his plan is a new policy Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield may be setting up for the 29 hourly CSC employees still working.
If CSC's lenders agree to the new policy, he said, laid off workers should be able to "piggyback" on it to pay for coverage themselves under COBRA, a benefit provided under federal law.
But just in case the plan falls through, Kubilis said, the union is setting up a series of meetings with health insurance providers to give workers the chance to study their alternatives for buying their own health coverage.
The first sessions are scheduled Monday at the union hall with Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield representatives.
Ruling: All CSC hourly workers and about 260 retirees have been without health benefits since Sunday after U.S. District Judge William Bodoh ruled that lenders cannot be forced to continue to pay the weekly, $170,000 premiums to Anthem.
COBRA requires companies to make health benefits available to unemployed workers at their own expense, but it hasn't helped CSC workers because their insurance policy also was terminated. Without a policy, Kubilis explained, workers have no coverage to latch onto for the COBRA benefit.
Only 29 hourly employees are still working at CSC, and steel production ended two weeks ago. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January and is searching for a buyer.
Guy Catania, vice president of human resources for CSC, said the company and union agreed that the hourly workers still employed should be provided with health coverage. They submitted a joint request to the lenders Thursday asking for funds to pay for a new policy to cover those few.
If the banks agree to give benefits to the skeleton crew still working, Catania agreed that it should be possible to tie COBRA benefits into that new coverage. Officials have said they expect to need a few workers -- about 8 -- to man the plant indefinitely, performing mostly security and maintenance duties.
Catania acknowledged that COBRA coverage can be costly, but he said the cost would be a welcome relief to some employees who need surgery, have high prescription costs or require other expensive medical treatments.