WCI closing department, laying off security guards

WARREN -- Cash-strapped WCI Steel is eliminating its in-house security department permanently to cut costs, idling about 12 company security guards.
Tim Roberts, WCI spokesman, said the steelmaker will hire a private security company but a selection has not been made.
He said 90-day layoff notices were delivered Tuesday to the WCI guards, members of Security Police and Fire Professionals of America, as required under the workers bargaining agreement.
Temporary furloughs
In other company news, he said 145 workers were on temporary furlough this week, 102 of those voluntarily, and the rolling mill is idle. Roberts said the mill temporarily lays off workers on a week-by-week basis when orders are down.
Under their union contract, members of United Steelworkers of America Local 1375 who have three or more years' seniority have the right to accept a layoff or work elsewhere in the mill when their department is shut down. Newer employees do not have that option.
WCI, the only steel mill in the Mahoning Valley still making steel from raw materials, is working on a restructuring plan to return the company to profitability after losing more than $155 million in the past 21/2 years.
The three-part plan would require a substantial cash infusion by owner Renco Group Inc., lenders' approval of a revised debt repayment plan and a revised contract with the United Steelworkers of America, which represents about 1,400 of WCI's work force.
With about 1,800 employees, WCI is the Valley's third-largest industrial employer.