Family faces tough times

By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WARREN -- Steelmaking -- the heat of the melt shop, the molten steel bars, back-breaking labor and camaraderie of co-workers -- has been part of Joe Maggiano's life as long as he can remember.
The son of a steel worker, Maggiano is a 27-year veteran of the financially troubled CSC Ltd. in Champion, and his brother works at WCI Steel in Warren.
But heart disease has forced the Warren native to store away his steel-toed boots.
At 49, Maggiano is recovering from his second open-heart surgery in 21/2 years. He and his wife, Barb, are more concerned now about losing their health benefits than they are about losing his job.
Both losses are almost certain for CSC's 1,300 hourly and salaried workers as the plant limps toward an April 13 shutdown.
Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since Jan. 12, the steel bar producer is scheduled to make its final health insurance payment Monday under an agreement the company reached Thursday with its lenders.
Under that plan, hourly employees' health coverage would lapse April 2.
The company has asked for an extension, and a hearing on the request is set for 2:30 p.m. Thursday. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William T. Bodoh will decide then whether the lenders should be forced to continue paying $170,000 a week to insure a work force that, for the most part, has been furloughed for weeks.
Worries: Maggiano says he's no crybaby, and he's sure there are other CSC Ltd. employees whose situations are worse than his. He notes that CSC health benefits already paid thousands of dollars for his two heart surgeries at University Hospital in Cleveland.
But Maggiano takes several costly medications that he'll have to pay for if his benefits end. He'll likely need rehabilitation therapy, another expense. He's still unable to work and can't qualify for unemployment, so he and his wife are living on his $210 weekly sick pay benefit.
And even if he recovers enough to work again, Maggiano says, he'll have a hard time getting health insurance with his heart problems. "They'll say I have a pre-existing condition," he explained. "Heck, if I was in their position, I wouldn't give me insurance, either."
Looking back: Maggiano grew up in Warren and played on Warren Western Reserve High School's first football team, graduating in 1969. He joined the Air Force and shipped out to Vietnam for a four-year stint, then came back and went to work at CSC, then known as Copperweld Steel.
"There were plenty of jobs then, but I went to Copperweld because I thought it would be more stable. I thought it would last," he said, shaking his head. "I was off on that. They've been talking about closing down as long as I've been here."
Maggiano said he, his wife and their daughter endured the mandatory swing shifts, the weekend work schedules and two long layoffs -- one for 18 months, the second for 21/2 years. He survived Copperweld's first Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 1993, the company's rebirth as CSC, and its second bankruptcy claim this year.
His first sign of heart trouble came in January 1998, but it was no surprise because Maggiano had a family history of heart attacks. He underwent a quadruple bypass surgery in May of that year and returned to work in the fall.
Then, last September, he started experiencing the same symptoms he had the first time -- unusual fatigue, profuse perspiration with little exertion and back pain.
Doctors discovered one of the arterial grafts made in the first surgery failed to take properly, and Maggiano needed a second open-heart procedure. The December surgery went well, but recovery has been slower the second time around.
Left job: Mrs. Maggiano was a homemaker for most of the couple's 27 years of marriage, but she was working as a housekeeper at an area hotel when the second heart problem arose. She said she had to leave the position to nurse her husband back to health and to serve as chauffeur for his numerous medical appointments in Cleveland.
A Civil War buff, Maggiano enjoyed playing Civil War computer games and e-mailing old war buddies until the family's computer went on the blink. The $75 repair bill is more than they can afford, so he passes the time now working jigsaw puzzles and reading several newspapers a day.
The Maggianos haven't given up hope.
They're wondering if he might qualify for disability payments under Social Security, or whether his sick pay might be extended because his claim occurred before the bankruptcy filing. If CSC finds a buyer and Maggiano recovers, he might even find another steelmaking job there.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Maggiano said she's made a 24-hour rule to keep her husband from staying too long in the doldrums -- he's not allowed to gripe or be depressed about the situation for more than a day, she said.
As for Maggiano, he likes to joke that his near brushes with death give him an excuse to be cranky once in a while. "I tell them it has something to do with having been dead twice," he said with a grin.