Hamilton and Nanticoke steelworkers want to know who holds the keys to their future.
Workers at the former Stelco plants want a Superior Court to order U.S. Steel Canada to release the names of the 39 companies weighing potential bids for the assets of the troubled firm.
Union leaders said Wednesday they need that information to protect the interests and pensions of thousands of local workers and retirees.
"People are starting to go through the plant and our guys are seeing them," said Gary Howe, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005 at the former Hilton Works in Hamilton. "They're going to have questions and we have questions, too."
U.S. Steel Canada has been under creditor protection since September and is in the midst of a process to find potential buyers for its factories in Hamilton and Nanticoke. In his most recent report, court-appointed monitor Alex Morrison said 39 potential buyers have submitted expressions of interest in the mills, their equipment or the land they sit on.
After evaluating those expressions a short list of buyers will be given the chance to make binding offers on the plants.
Workers fear that without knowing who the potential buyers are they can't protect their interests in jobs and pensions for 1,600 active workers and 14,000 retirees.
"If some people are lining up to make billions of dollars we feel retirees deserve their full pensions," Howe said. "Right now U.S. Steel holds all the cards and has an unfair advantage."
Among the top concerns of workers is the future of USSC's seriously underfunded pension plans. Those plans are, at last count, more than $830 million short of what they need to pay all promised pensions if the company goes out of business. If that happens, retirees could see their monthly incomes slashed by enough to cover the shortfall. The impact would be slightly eased by benefits from a provincial insurance fund.
Selling USSC's assets is one way workers hope to raise money for the plans, but they fear if the American parent U.S. Steel bids for the Canadian plants based on its claim it is owed $2.2 billion by the Canadian firm, little or no cash will be generated for the pension plans.
"This should be a transparent process," said Bill Ferguson, president of USW Local 8782 at the Lake Erie Works. "Right now only U.S. Steel knows who's out there and what's available."
In a news release Wednesday, the union said it is seeking a court order to gain access to the identity of the bidders and the letters of intent they submitted. They also want a court order preventing U.S. Steel "from exercising undue control and gaining an unfair advantage in the sale and restructuring process."
"We're saying, 'no more secret deals.' We want to meet with the bidders and we want to meet with them immediately," Ferguson said in that release. "We've been trying to move things forward, but U.S. Steel still is holding up the process."
USW Ontario director Marty Warren said those delays could drive potential bidders away.
"We know there are potential bidders who are looking at U.S. Steel properties and we are hearing concerns that some of these bidders are very frustrated with the process and they might just walk away," he said.
USSC wants to wait until it has received and assessed final offers for the plants before releasing any information about the bidders — but that's too late for workers, pensioners and the provincial government to have any real input the union said in a letter to chief restructuring officer Bill Aziz.
If the company refuses to release details of the bids, the union says it will ask Superior Court Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel to impose a "stakeholder consultation protocol" to protect their interests.
The union also wants a court order requiring the monitor to find another emergency lender to provide financial support for USSC while it restructures. Currently that lender is its American parent and the union says that's another unfair advantage for the Pittsburgh firm.
Spokespersons for the Canadian and American firms refused comment on the union statements.
Trevor Harris, of USSC, repeated an earlier commitment that details of the bids would be "made available at the appropriate time."
Source: thespec.com
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