WARREN Hope remains at CSC deadline

Union officials think they've accomplished enough to persuade the judge to give CSC more time.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WARREN -- Today's the day.
Friday the 13th is the deadline CSC Ltd. lenders have set for selling the ailing steel bar mill intact.
Under an agreement CSC managers reached with its lenders three weeks ago, the company must complete mothballing of the plant today and, if no buyer has emerged, the mill could be closed permanently, dismantled and sold off piece by piece.
But after weeks of scrambling by CSC managers, union leaders and public officials working to save the plant say there's a chance the date might pass quietly without incident.
Up to judge: John Kubilis, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 2243, which represents about 1,100 hourly CSC workers, said the deadline doesn't mean a thing until U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William T. Bodoh says so.
Under bankruptcy court procedure, he said, lenders would have to file a motion asking Bodoh to initiate selling the mill piecemeal, setting the stage for company and union officials to say why the date should be extended.
A court spokeswoman said no such motion had been filed by this morning.
Kubilis thinks the judge will grant an extension to allow more time to find a buyer when he hears how much union and elected officials have accomplished in the three weeks since the date was set.
Taking steps: After a series of meetings with Gov. Bob Taft's staff, state and federal legislative representatives and consultants working with the union, Kubilis said, the following steps are complete or in the works:
* State officials have agreed to a "lucrative incentive package" of grants, low-interest loans and training resources which will be available to any qualified buyer or to CSC workers if they go forward with an employee buyout of the mill.
* The governor has agreed to help CSC secure a loan by adding its guarantee to the Federal Emergency Steel Guarantee Program. The federal program would guarantee 85 percent of a buyer's loan, and Taft said the state will cover "a significant portion" of the remaining 15 percent.
* Officials from the U.S. Department of Commerce are reviewing a joint proposal from the union and the governor's office that would change the loan guarantee program to make it more palatable to lenders.
* Employees working with Locker and Associates, a New York City consulting firm, have started putting together a business plan for a proposed employee buyout. The business plan should be complete in two weeks, and a financing plan should be complete in six weeks.
Kubilis said lawmakers and public officials have also been putting pressure on the lenders to consider a deadline extension.
Taft, Warren Mayor Hank Angelo, Trumbull County commissioners, U.S. Reps. Sherrod Brown of Lorain, D-13th, and James Traficant Jr. of Poland, D-17th, are among the public officials who sent letters to the banks calling for more time.
CSC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Jan. 12, and the company has been winding down operations since.
Agreement with lenders: Company managers reached an agreement last month with the lender group, led by First Union Bank of Charlotte, N.C., to complete the mothballing of the plant by today.
Company attorneys have said that at least one prospective buyer is close to signing a letter of intent to buy the steel bar mill, and Kubilis told the governor's staff that there are at least two buyers considering the purchase.
Union and company officials are determined to sell the mill as an operating concern because the alternative, a piecemeal sale, would lead to the permanent closing of the plant and the permanent loss of more than 1,300 jobs.