REPUBLIC TECHNOLOGIES USW wants government to pay 'shutdown pensions'

The payments would cost the government agency $96 million.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- The union representing workers of a closed Canton-based steel bar maker asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to require the government to pay "shutdown pensions" that union officials say the workers were promised in their labor contract.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took the case under review and didn't say when they will rule.
The federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is fighting the "shutdown pensions," saying it is not required to pay out benefits that the failed Republic Technologies International never paid premiums on. The company filed for bankruptcy court protection in 2001 and closed the following year.
The payments at issue would cost the government $96 million, the agency estimates.
Lower court's ruling
The United Steelworkers union wants the appeals court to uphold a lower court's ruling requiring the agency to make the payments. U.S. District Judge Peter Economus had said the agency failed to show that making the payments was unreasonable.
The union says about 2,000 people are eligible for shutdown benefits of as much as $2,000 per month for workers who were not old enough to collect regular pensions when they lost their jobs.
The terminated pension plans had about $165 million in assets to cover about $475 million in liabilities.
Republic Technologies had plants in Canton, Massillon and Lorain in Ohio; Beaver Falls, Pa.; Chicago and Harvey, Ill.; Gary, Ind.; Lackawanna, N.Y.; and Hamilton, Ont.