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 25, 2006 edition
By Deirdre Healey
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 25, 2006)
The change may seem subtle at first.
Stelco, a name synonymous with Hamilton, will remain on the
skyline, but the waterfront plant will have a new identity.
The new owner of the city's ailing steelmaker is
rechristening the local plant Hamilton Steel General Partnership Inc. when it
emerges from bankruptcy protection April 1.
Stelco Inc. will still exist, but now only as a holding
company for operations in Hamilton, Lake Erie and elsewhere.
"Each plant will operate as their own plant and have
their own name," said Stelco spokesperson Helen Reeves. "The location
will be identified as both Stelco and Hamilton Steel."
The name change is the external part of a plan to
restructure the steel company into nine business units. Each unit will have its
own management, employee communications, web page, human resource functions,
accounting records and letterhead.
"Hamilton Steel will have its own letterhead and use it
when it is doing its own business," Reeves said.
"And Stelco will have its own letterhead for
business."
As far as the landmark sign on the waterfront plant
building, Reeves said it will still have the Stelco name on it as well as
Hamilton Steel.
The restructuring plan was devised by Stelco's new owners
Tricap Management Ltd. as a way of forcing each unit to be more accountable for
its operating results.
The company has been divided into the two main steel makers,
Hamilton and Lake Erie, and other assets to make up a total of nine operations,
which will all have new names.
The Lake Erie plant's new name is Lake Erie Steel General
Partnership Ltd.
Local 8782 president Bill Ferguson at Lake Erie said the
name change is "part of incorporating separate entities.
"They will be known as different units so they have to
have different names," said Ferguson, who wasn't concerned about the name
change.
Memos about the restructuring plan, which was approved by
the court in February, were sent out to employees, but memos on the new names
of the Hamilton and Lake Erie plants have not.
Fears have been raised by the Hamilton union that the new
structure will make it easier to close or sell the obsolete and unprofitable
Hilton Works complex. The local union leader could not be reached for comment.
Joseph D'Cruz, strategy professor with Rotman School of
Management in Toronto, echoed the union's fears and said the name change is a
"precursor to being able to sell off various pieces of the business to
different people.
"They are positioning themselves for the future,"
D'Cruz said.
Dividing the company and renaming each unit makes it obvious
they are legally separate operations and "that's important if they are
trying to sell them," he said.
Tricap would make more profit if the company sold the
operations off individually rather than selling Stelco as a whole because
Hilton Works has "a lot of environmental liabilities," he said.
Stelco filed for bankruptcy protection Jan. 29, 2004, citing
a massive pension deficit and mounting losses.
Marvin Ryder, professor with DeGroote School of Business at
McMaster University, said the name change signals a new chapter for the steel
company after two years of turmoil.
"It doesn't matter what they change the name to, people
will still call it Stelco," the professor said.
"It's been such a part of Hamilton's history that the
name won't be going away any time soon."
dhealey@thespec.com
905-526-3468