STEEL INDUSTRY WCI Steel votes to ratify contract agreement

The new agreements take effect when WCI emerges from bankruptcy.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- The president of the union representing workers at WCI Steel said he thinks Thursday's ratification vote will help speed up WCI's emergence from bankruptcy.
"An educated guess would be early August," said Mike Rubicz, president of United Steelworkers Local 1375, referring to the time he thought the steelmaker would emerge from bankruptcy.
The new labor agreements will take effect as soon as the company emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and run until Nov. 1, 2008.
Production and maintenance workers voted 585-346 to ratify their agreement, and clerical workers ratified theirs by a 32-0 vote.
"They indicated that they were in favor of making sure that WCI and the Renco Group would have the advantage of having a contract in place," so they can preserve their ownership of the company in a bankruptcy court hearing next week, Rubicz said of the majority vote. However, he added that the significant dissenting vote indicates many workers aren't satisfied with the agreement. Renco is WCI's parent company.
The vote
WCI's creditors voted by mail on WCI's reorganization plan and on a competing plan devised by investors who hold more than $324 million of the company's secured bonds. Court hearings will be held to determine which plan gets adopted.
The union does not have a contract with the bondholders, Rubicz said.
"We will turn out the same amount of steel with 250 fewer people," Rubicz said, referring to a buyout plan for the 250 most senior hourly workers. "What they are going to do is have fewer people doing more functions," he added.
"It was a vote that people felt was the best possible contract that we could get," said Rubicz, who had advocated its ratification. The WCI contract is patterned after other steel industry contracts, he added. "In order to be on a level playing field with the other companies, we had to have this kind of a contract," he said.
Hourly wages under the agreements are comparable to those at Cleveland-based International Steel Group. Pay will increase by 94 cents to $1.28 an hour over the life of the agreements.
Hourly pay for production and maintenance workers will range from $15.45 to $21.12 in the first year, rising to a range of $16.39 to $22.40 by March 31, 2007.
Hourly pay for clerical workers will range from $17 to $19.83 at the beginning of the contract, rising to $18.03 to $21.03 in four years.
WCI will continue to pay health care premiums, but workers will face more out of pocket expenses. Renco will take over pension obligations and the agreements set up a benefit trust to pay for retirees' health care. WCI will make fixed contributions to the fund and additional contributions based on profits.