Details Of Proposed USW Contract With RG Steel Come To Light

The tentative agreement between RG Steel, the likely new owners of the Sparrows Point mill, and the United Steelworkers will increase hourly wages, improve sick and accident benefits, and bring pension and health care gains for union members, according to an agreement summary obtained by Patch through a source close to the situation at Sparrows Point.

The Renco Group, Inc. announced earlier this month that its newly formed subsidiary, RG Steel, LLC, has signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire the Sparrows Point steel mill and two other U.S. steel plants previously owned by Severstal North America.

The tentative agreement with the USW would increase wages $1 an hour immediately, and 4 percent each year through September 2014 for all current USW workers at Sparrows Point. USW members working at mills at Warren, OH, and Wheeling, WV, will see similar raises. Currently, union workers at Sparrows Point earn roughly between $16 and $22 an hour.

Sick and accident benefits rise from 60 to 70 percent of base pay for union workers. The current $400-a-week ceiling on sick and accident benefits would be eliminated under the tentative agreement, expected to be mailed soon by the international union to local members for a vote.

The tentative agreement also extends steelworker pension trust and personal insurance benefits for an additional 12 months to all employees not actively at work on the effective date of the contract.

RG Steel and the USW agree to discuss local issues and grievances during a 60-day period after ratification. Also, alternative work schedules, such as three-day, 12-hour-shift work weeks, may only be implemented after management and union discussion.

The tentative agreement also calls for a $10,000 contribution to employee pensions for those retiring after 60 years of age and before the end of the new basic labor agreement. New hires would start at 80 percent of the base rate of pay and receive 5 percent increases every six months until they attain full base rate pay.

Laid off steelworkers, who receive supplemental benefits to their state unemployment benefits, would be guaranteed at least $250 a week in minimum supplemental benefits. For those choosing to relocate to another RG Steel plant, the relocation allowance increases from$500 for a 100-mile or more move, to $5,000 for any relocation of 50 miles or more.

Incentive agreements, to be negotiated by RG Steel and the union, if reached, could provide additional 20 percent hourly bonuses for workers on top of their base pay.

Health care benefit improvements, according to the summary obtained by Patch, expands prescription drug benefits, therapies and treatments for things previously not covered such as smoking cessation, lead testing for children under 18, speech therapy and services related to autistic diseases of childhood and attention deficit disorders.

Currently, more than 800 steelworkers are on layoff from Sparrows Point.

John Cirri, president of United Steelworkers Local 9477, said he would not comment on the tentative agreement between RG Steel and the USW.

However, Cirri did say that he remained hopeful that the first group of workers would be called back soon to restart the “L” blast furnace.

“When we get the green light, 200-300 will probably come back right away,” Cirri said. “Right now, Severstal still owns the plant.”

Cirri added that several joint venture initiatives, discussed but never completed by Severstal last year, could get moving again once the sale to RG Steel is complete.

“Severstal wanted to eliminate about 500-600 jobs under restructuring—we successfully held that off through a combination of job combinations, restructuring of some jobs, and through joint ventures,” Cirri said.

Two joint ventures proposed, a warehouse operation and iron-ore handing operation, were initially going to be managed by Severstal on the Sparrows Point property. Joint ventures with outside companies previously under consideration would have utilized Sparrows Point’s mobile equipment, the 80 different types of trucks, front-end loaders and vehicles, for example, as well as the plant’s machine shop and slitting facility.

Cirri said with primary side operations and the hot mill idled, together with the uncertainty around Severstal’s wish to sell Sparrows Point, all but the warehouse joint venture came to a standstill in recent months.

He’s hopeful now, with the sale going forward, that the other joint venture negotiations may begin again.

“I think you’ll see these joint ventures coming back to the table,” Cirri said. “I can’t stress enough that they are good for the plant, and good for protecting the jobs of the people who work here.

“I don’t know that those joint ventures will create additional jobs to the current work force, but possibly in the future,” Cirri continued. “They are designed to protect those 500-600 jobs that were looked at for elimination.”

Any joint venture positions will be union jobs, Cirri said, offered to union members first before being opened to new hires off the street.