COLD METAL Workers explore buyout

The steel processor brings back 13 workers in Indianapolis as it tries to reach a new labor contract.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Cold Metal Products has reopened its Indianapolis plant, but restarting the Campbell plant is still up to local union members.
The restart of the Indianapolis plant is temporary, with 13 workers back on the job, but could become permanent later, the steel processor said.
Cold Metal closed its Indianapolis and Campbell plants in August, one day before filing for protection from creditors under federal bankruptcy laws.
The Campbell plant, which used to employ 116, remains closed as union officials explore an employee buyout.
No hope
John Burnich, vice president of United Steel Workers of America Local 3047 in Campbell, said the union has no hope that the company will reopen the local plant.
"They told us point blank that they are not operating here," he said.
The union used a state grant to hire a New York consultant to study whether an employee buyout of the plant is feasible.
The consultant is talking with Cold Metal customers and determining the value of the plant before he issues a recommendation to the union.
Bob Boak, union president at the local plant, said he was to meet today with a union attorney in Pittsburgh to try to find out why Indianapolis is being restarted and not Youngstown.
Duane Wykoff, vice president for human resources for Cold Metal, said company officials think the Indianapolis plant has a chance of being profitable. The Campbell plant faces more obstacles because it has higher utility costs and it has lost a key consumer electronics customer, he said.
Pa. plant accord
Cold Metal, which has headquarters in Sewickley, Pa., said it reached an agreement with the Steelworkers to operate the Indianapolis plant for 60 days as the two sides negotiate a new labor contract.
The move was approved in bankruptcy court, the company said.
"We'll be working with the USWA to hammer out an agreement that allows the plant to be profitable while providing a competitive compensation package for our employees," said Ray Torok, company president and chief executive.
The Indianapolis plant employed 68 when it was shut down.
Torok said operations at the plant will be scaled back from what they had been, but the plant does have a long-term future if arrangements can be made with the union, customers and lenders.
Upgrading falls through
Earlier this year, company officials said they had intended to upgrade the Campbell plant but financing fell through.
The cash-strapped company is trying to reorganize in bankruptcy court. It still has plants in Ottawa, Ohio; Roseville, Mich.; and Canada.
shilling@vindy.com