WARREN WCI Steel, union unite in fight to retain tariffs

The president will decide whether to abolish, amend or retain the tariffs.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WARREN -- They've been adversaries in the past, but these days the president of WCI Steel and its labor union are on the same team.
Edward Caine, president of WCI, and Mike Rubicz, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 1375, like other steel management and labor leaders across the country, are fighting to retain tariffs they say are crucial for the domestic steel industry's survival.
Acknowledging that he's often sat on the opposite side of the bargaining table from Rubicz and other Local 1375 leaders, Caine spoke about the tariff retention campaign at a press conference Monday.
"This is a total, hands-together effort of labor, management and government to keep our steel industry alive and keep employment in the steel industry," Caine said.
Some of President Bush's economic advisers have urged him to repeal or reduce the three-year tariff program he imposed in March 2002 to help the U.S. steel industry compete against illegally dumped foreign steel imports.
Though steel leaders have hailed the tariffs as beneficial to the struggling industry, opponents have complained that the resulting improvement in steel prices has hurt manufacturers who use steel.
Bush is expected to make a decision on whether to keep or change the tariffs sometime after Sept. 19 when the International Trade Commission issues a midterm analysis of the import duties.
Rubicz, who represents about 1,400 hourly workers at WCI, said the steel tariffs are giving WCI and other troubled mills a better chance to survive.
"If we lose these steel tariffs, we will lose one more protection," the union president said. "It's a hard fight and there's no guarantee, but if we lose the tariffs, it is easier for the foreign producers to come in and undermine the price so that we can't make a profit."
Congressman Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, said Valley residents need to turn on what he called "the democracy machine."
"That's average people, labor unions, middle-class America engaging back in the political process," Ryan said. "You're not going to turn this around until we vote and our families vote and our neighbors vote."
Caine said the tariffs have stabilized the steel industry and helped make it possible for steelmakers to invest $3 billion in restructuring and consolidation. If the tariffs are repealed or reduced early, he said, it would hurt restructuring efforts by companies, including WCI Steel.
"I wouldn't say it's critical to me or critical to my company, but it's critical to the industry," Caine said later.
The Bush administration has granted more than 700 exemptions to the tariffs, and many affected WCI's products, Caine explained, leaving only a small percentage of its steel still protected by the tariff.
WCI, the Mahoning Valley's third-largest industrial employer with 1,800 workers, began a restructuring process in May after reporting losses of $17.5 million in the first half of its fiscal 2003.
Neither Caine nor Rubicz would comment on the progress of the three-pronged plan.
vinarsky@vindy.com