The Stel Salaried
Pensioners Organization wishes to thank The Hamilton Spectator for permission
to post the following article by Reporter Deirdre Healey, published in the
March 3, 2006 edition
By Deirdre Healey
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 3, 2006)
For more than two years, Margaret Hill has been anticipating
the day she goes to the bank to find her account empty.
She is a 67-year-old widow of a former Stelco employee and
has lived in fear of losing her husband's pension since the steel giant filed
for bankruptcy protection in January 2004.
But her worries of falling into poverty have disappeared now
that plans are being finalized to bring the steel company out of protection by
March 31.
"I feel safe now," said Hill, who has been closely
following Stelco's financial troubles from the beginning. "I feel like a
weight has been lifted off me. For so long I was scared of losing my pension.
Losing that would mean losing everything."
Hill's husband died from a massive heart attack 17 years
ago. He worked as a blacksmith at the Hilton Works plant in Hamilton for 32
years before he became ill.
While Hill has found love with a new partner, she is still
solely dependent on her husband's pension and monthly survivor benefits to pay
her bills.
"I was living month to month and every time my pension
cheque would come in, I would know I was OK for the next couple of weeks,"
she said.
"The past two years have been stressful because I didn't
know what was going to happen."
The last two years have been equally difficult for Andrew
Shand, who has operated the steam lines at the Hamilton plant for close to four
decades. He calls the past two years "devastating."
Uncertain of his job security and future pension, the
61-year-old has had many sleepless nights worrying about whether he will be
able to put his two daughters through college.
"I stopped telling my wife about what was happening
with work because it was so up and down," Shand said. "I didn't know
what was going to happen. I would go to work hoping to come back to the same
job at the same place the next day."
Courtney Pratt, Stelco's chief executive officer, said it
was also a "difficult and tension-filled" phase in his career. While
Pratt is on his way out as head of the steel company, he won't breathe a sigh
of relief until it's all officially over March 31.
"Every day literally brought on a new crisis," he
said. "The fact that we were in bankruptcy protection at a time when steel
prices took off meant we went from traditionally restructuring the company
under (bankruptcy protection) ... to making a significant amount of money. It
was a constantly shifting landscape."
Hamilton Mayor Larry Di Ianni said Stelco's troubles have
taken the entire community on an emotional rollercoaster ride. "A Hamilton
without Stelco is unimaginable,"Di Ianni said. "But today is the
first day of a new Stelco."
Bankruptcy expert Bruce Leonard said Stelco's stretch of
bankruptcy protection ranks as one of the longest in Canadian history. During
that time, the company struggled through contract negotiations, new ownership
and the development of restructuring plans.
"It was quite complex," Leonard said. "The
dynamics weren't serving them and to come to a solution is almost a
miracle."
The next challenge will be keeping pace with the rest of the
steel market, he said. Before filing for bankruptcy protection, Stelco was
struggling to meet pension obligations.
Leonard said paying into the current pension debt will hamper
Stelco's abilities to compete. "They are competing against a very
efficient and low-cost foreign market," he said. "Stelco will have to
be careful they are not a higher cost producer than the companies they are
competing with."
Union leader Rolf Gerstenberger said Stelco's Hilton Works
employees still have contract negotiations ahead of them. "One phase is
over, but we still have to face bargaining," said Gerstenberger, president
of the United Steelworkers 1005. The contract expires July 31 and bargaining is
set to begin in May. This time around the union will be sitting at the table
with a new owner.
dhealey@thespec.com
905-526-3468