Amweld admits error, restores retirees’ insurance

By Don Shilling

A congressman and a retiree aren’t satisfied with Amweld’s remedy for former workers.

Amweld International is admitting its mistake and restoring health-care coverage to its retirees — for a time.

The company is reaching out to the retirees nine days after a Vindicator story detailed how retirees were just finding out that their health care had been canceled retroactive to Jan. 1.

Not only did they lose their health care, but they also were being billed for insurance payments made since then, and premiums of up to $770 a month were still being taken out of their pensions.

Amweld said in a news release Thursday an error was made in not notifying the workers of the cancellation. The error affected 18 workers under a plan with Aetna. Twenty others who were covered by a different insurer had been notified.

For the workers covered by Aetna, health insurance will be restored back to Jan. 1, but it will last only until June 30.

“In order to survive as a going concern in this deeply dreary economy, difficult choices have been forced upon us,” an Amweld news release said. “However, we believe that the measures taken will provide the requisite time and assistance to the affected ... retirees to transition to new health insurance plans.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, said he was pleased that Amweld has decided to fulfill its obligations to the retirees but added that they deserved health care beyond June 30.

One of the retirees, Jon Powell, 61, of Howland, said he wasn’t satisfied with Amweld saying that an error had been made.

Retirees have suffered the past few weeks as they met roadblocks in trying to reach company officials, he said. Some have had health problems that they thought were not covered by insurance.

“They caused a lot of hardship and heartache. I still think they ought to find someone responsible,” Powell said.

He noted that many of the retirees still face hardships because they will lose coverage June 30. He has since gone on his wife’s insurance plan.

As for the money that had been deducted this year for health-care premiums, Amweld said it has not been spent. It said the money will be returned to the retirees or applied to future premiums.

Powell said he doesn’t trust company officials.

“Until I’m counting the money in my hands, I don’t know if I believe it,” he said.

Amweld said the retirees will be notified by mail over the next few days.

The cancellation of the health care came after the assets of Amweld Building Products were bought by Amweld International, which is controlled by a New York investment firm called Patriarch Partners. Amweld International bought those assets from Ark II Manufacturing, which was facing foreclosure.

Ryan last week questioned the sale in a letter to the Department of Labor. He asked for an investigation of the benefit cancellation and of Amweld’s pension fund.

Ryan said that the buyer and the seller of Amweld assets — Ark II and Amweld International — apparently were both controlled by Patriarch Partners.

Gary Steinbeck, a representative for the United Steelworkers union, said there “are still unanswered questions the company needs to respond to.” One of them is the lack of a contact for some former workers to file documents so they can begin receiving pensions, he said.

Taylor Griffin, a communications consultant hired by Amweld International, said a third-party benefits administrator will be hired so former workers have a contact person. He did not respond to questions about the connections among the Amweld companies.

In 2007, Amweld closed its plants in Niles and Garrettsville and said it was moving production to Mexico. The news release issued Thursday said Amweld International employs 200. The company’s Web site lists a distribution center in Texas and plants in Mexico and Florida.

shilling@vindy.com