ISG WARREN COKE PLANT Grateful workers make the most of second chance

By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
WARREN -- Workers at the coke plant in Warren toil next to ovens heated to 2,400 degrees in air that smells of sulfur -- and they're glad to be there.
They have seen the alternative.
"We were shut down," said Bill Prejsnar, a worker and union official. "We know what it feels like to lose your job. We were happy to get our jobs back."
It was a year ago this month that more than 100 workers returned to restart the former LTV coke plant.
"People came back with a great attitude," said Bill Sullivan, manager of coke making.
Looking back
They came back happily after enduring nearly four months of unemployment and the feeling that their jobs were gone forever.
That feeling was very real on Feb. 8, 2002. After idling the plant without production for six weeks, LTV said it was out of money and was shutting off the gas that kept the ovens warm. Without heat, the brick in the ovens soon would collapse, making the ovens worthless and the jobs part of history.
A day later, however, the plant was saved. A group of community leaders assembled by plant and union officials agreed to pay the cost of idling and the gas was turned back on.
Sullivan said the people at the plant will long remember the community support.
"It really feels good," he said.
LTV's coke plant in Chicago wasn't as fortunate. Its ovens were allowed to cool and the plant never reopened.
New owner
The first order of business for the Warren plant's new owner, International Steel Group of Cleveland, was to repay the community leaders who kept the ovens hot.
ISG was formed by Wilbur Ross, a specialist in turning around companies, to buy LTV's plants. The company recently bought Bethlehem Steel to become North America's largest steel company.
Both management and union officials said the first year at the local plant, now called ISG Warren, has been a success.
Contract changes
Prejsnar, unit president of United Steelworkers of America Local 1375, said workers are making more than they were under LTV because of ISG's production bonuses. The pay tops $20 an hour, Sullivan said.
The downside for the union was that a new contract combined the jobs of the plant's skilled trades workers. Prejsnar said this took some getting used to, but workers were willing to compromise on work rules to keep the plant open.
The only people disappointed by the ISG takeover have been those not called back to work, he said. The union has between 15 and 20 people who would like to come back but haven't, he said. Others have retired.
The plant has 115 hourly and 20 salaried workers, compared with 168 hourly and 38 salaried workers under LTV.
Jeff Foster, acting general manager of the plant, said combining job classifications such as pipefitter and millwright into one job category has helped the plant operate more efficiently.
Also, employees are working four 12-hour days and then taking four days off. They previously worked five eight-hour days with two days off.
Independent operation
Sullivan said ISG's management philosophy also has helped the plant uncover the most efficient way to operate. Under LTV, corporate officials in Cleveland controlled functions such as purchasing and delivery of coal.
ISG expects each of its plants to operate independently so plant officials can pick their own suppliers and make their own transportation arrangements.
"A lot of the red tape we had in the old days of LTV is gone," Foster said.
The plant is churning out as much coke as it can -- 1,500 tons a day. All of it is going to ISG's steel mill in Cleveland.
Foster said more ovens would have to be built to expand production and there has been no discussion of that.
About the plant
Most of the plant's coal comes by barge from West Virginia to Wellsville and then by truck to Warren. The four varieties of coal that are trucked in are then blended and placed into the plant's ovens.
The plant has 85 ovens, each of which are 18 inches wide, 14 feet high and 44 feet long. They sit side-by-side in a battery that is 300 feet long.
Each oven is loaded with 171/2 tons of coal that is baked at 2,400 degrees for 16 hours. The baking produces 121/2 tons of coke.
Byproducts such as sulfur, tar and oil are sold. Gas produced by the process is returned to heat the ovens.
shilling@vindy.com