The Stel Salaried
Pensioners Organization wishes to thank The Hamilton Spectator for permission
to post the following article by Reporter Chinta Puxley published in the
September 21, 2005 edition
By Chinta
Puxley
The Hamilton Spectator
(Sep 21, 2005)
The 11th hour was long gone and a
crucial court appearance was just hours away.
Fuelled by take-out Chinese food and
very little sleep, representatives from Stelco, its unions and the province
were working furiously to hammer out a deal that would help a restructured
Stelco emerge from bankruptcy protection without penalizing the beleaguered
company's pensioners.
It finally came together overnight.
More than a year of sleepless nights,
cramped hotel rooms and deadlocked negotiations finally paid off with a
restructuring plan filed with bankruptcy court yesterday morning.
It took marathon talks and a tight
deadline, but the plan seems to address the thorny issue of pensions. All
parties are tight-lipped about which crucial details sealed the deal, citing
confidentiality agreements, but the province's loan of $100 million for pension
plans is being lauded by most as a vital turning point.
The company is contributing a further
$400 million to the plans, removing the major obstacle to restructuring.
All involved have paid a heavy personal
price for this agreement. Bill Ferguson, president of the United Steelworkers
representing Lake Erie workers, has been getting four hours sleep a night. He's
been away from home so long his dog bit him, thinking he was a stranger.
"It's been a long haul," he
said. "At the end of (Monday) night, we were somewhere. So I'm happy to
say that we're somewhere."
It's a far cry from the situation a few
months ago when Stelco was offering $200 million for pension plans and the
province remained silent. At the time, the province's lack of action prompted a
strong rebuke from Justice James Farley, the bankruptcy court judge hearing the
Stelco case. "Now it's time for the government to step up to the plate,"
he said.
Two weeks later, the province did.
Finance Minister Greg Sorbara said the
province tabled the $100 million proposal at the beginning of August after
weighing the cost of a Stelco collapse and its impact on the economies of
Hamilton and Ontario.
Sorbara said the province was advised
to look at "options for financial participation," which prompted it
to offer the $100 million loan.
MORE STELCO COVERAGE: A16
"There is no doubt that our $100
million loan was part of the solution. It was a catalyst," the minister
said. "But it would be wrong to suggest it was the thing that made it all
happen."
Courtney Pratt, Stelco president and
CEO, sees it differently.
"We have been saying for a long
time that it was very important that the logjam get broken," he said.
"Quite frankly, it took someone to take the first step and the provincial
government took the first step and it was significant."
Pratt said the past few months have
been very intense with "long hours, not a lot of sleep." But he said
that's to be expected with difficult negotiations.
Hap Stephen, Stelco's chief
restructuring officer, is equally used to long hours but admits these
negotiations were strenuous, even for a veteran like him.
"This has been very, very
difficult," he said. "This is what I do for a living and you always
have periods like this where you have some very intense, long hours and things
start to happen."
"This is an important step and
we're pleased to have taken it, but it's not the end of the game," Pratt
said. "It's the end of the first period."
cpuxley@thespec.com
905-526-3468