The Stel Salaried Pensioners Organization wishes to
thank The Hamilton Spectator for permission to post the following article by
Reporter Steve Arnold published in the May 19, 2005 edition
By Steve Arnold
The Hamilton Spectator
(May 19, 2005)
A
retired judge who literally wrote the book on dispute resolution has won broad
support to lead a mediation process at Stelco.
George
Adams, a Hamilton native, is expected to get the commission today from
bankruptcy court judge James Farley.
It will
be a second effort by Adams to bring Stelco and its bitter stakeholders
together around a restructuring plan. In June 2004, he was named as a special
officer to get the company and unionized workers talking, and to broker a new
labour agreement for the Lake Erie local of the United Steelworkers of America.
"Judge
Adams has the full support of all the stakeholders and the full support of the
company," said Stelco president Courtney Pratt. "We've asked for him
because he has long experience in mediation and dispute resolution. He's a very
thoughtful guy who gets results."
In a
new report released yesterday the court-appointed monitor of Stelco's
contentious restructuring under bankruptcy protection also support Adams'
appointment.
"The
Honourable Mr. Adams enjoys broad support among Stelco and the stakeholders as
a potential mediator," wrote Alex Morrison, senior vice-president of Ernst
and Young. "To the knowledge of the Monitor, no other mediator has been
identified that has better availability and also enjoys broad support among the
potential mediation participants."
Union
leader Bill Ferguson was somewhat less enthusiastic about Adams' appointment,
commenting, "We've had very little interaction with him, but from what
I've heard, he has a lot of respect.
"He
seems competent so I don't have a horribly negative reaction," he said.
Adams
will try to mediate around an agreement which offers a downpayment of up to
$175 million on Stelco's massive pension deficit. It also lays out how much
money the company hopes to raise in new debt and equity. Details are
confidential, but many have leaked out.
Retirees
and five of the company's six union locals have flatly rejected the plan as
inadequate on the pension issue and too heavily biased toward debt holders.
Bondholders
have sent their own plan proposal directly to Stelco's board of directors.
Local 1005, which represents staff at Hilton Works in Hamilton, has refused to
take part in the process.
Adams,
ex chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, served as a Superior Court
judge from 1991 to 1997 before starting a mediation business. He has mediated
between Algoma Steel and its workers and creditors, between the Toronto police
force and the Special Investigations Unit, and between McMaster University and
its staff association. He has written books on the topic of dispute resolution
and mediation.
sarnold@thespec.com
905-526-3496
With
files from Canadian Press