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WHEN YOU STARTED THE JOB AT THE BEGINNING OF 2004, WHAT DID YOU THINK
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE WOULD BE?
I thought the biggest challenge was going to be the one that hasn't
developed, and that was going to be to deal with a lot of very very
difficult situations with respect to things like layoffs and possibly
having to change pensions, change compensation schemes, all that sort of
stuff. That, to me, was going to be a very unpleasant part of this job,
but something that's based on what we, you know, with the situation at
hand, seemed inevitable.
WHAT HAS TURNED OUT TO BE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE?
I would say, first of all, dealing with the changing marketplace has
been an enormous challenge. Because you move from one situation where
you're really facing realistically looking at liquidation of the company
if you didn't do anything to a situation where you're starting to make
money. And all that happened in a space of about six months ...
The other big challenge has been one of my biggest disappointments,
and that was trying to develop and improve the relationship with the
labour unions.
WHAT'S YOUR BIGGEST SUCCESS?
I'll call it a success, sort of a package, which is all the progress
that we've made. You know, in light of these difficulties we've made
progress on a number of important points. We've been able to achieve
significant downsizing without having to do any layoffs, so through
attrition, that's to me been a great success. We've been able to move the
head office from the tower to down here. We've developed a strategy,
which I think is a very robust strategy for the company to go forward.
And we've also developed and we're now in the middle of a capital raising
process.
WHEN YOU LOOK BACK ON THIS A YEAR OR TWO FROM NOW WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE
TO SAY YOU'VE ACCOMPLISHED?
My goal has always been, and it still is, for Stelco to come out of
this as a much stronger company. Stronger in terms of its ability to be
viable in all economic conditions. Stronger in terms of providing
security of employment for the employees. Stronger in terms of being able
to come back to making a real contribution to the community. And that is
ultimately, I think, how I'll be judged in this role as to whether I've
been successful or not.
IS IT HARD FOR YOU TO BE THE PUBLIC FACE OF THE COMPANY RIGHT NOW?
It's part of the job, so I take it as part of the job, and I knew it
would be fairly public, but I could never have anticipated, nor could
anybody have anticipated, how much public stuff there would be ... Do I
like being attacked by columnists? No, I don't. And I find that
difficult, particularly when it's not based on the facts of the
situation. But it goes with the territory.
HOW HAS COMMUNITY SUPPORT BEEN?
I don't think I could have asked for better support from the community
in the sense that the tremendously strong ties that the community has to
Stelco. And it's almost a bit of, so Stelco goes, so goes Hamilton.
Everybody's pulling for us, which is a wonderful feeling. It puts an
added degree of pressure on, knowing that so many people are counting on
you. But it also gives you an added dose of commitment, to needing to get
this done and get it done right ...
You would expect that (support) in a mining town, and you're the only
business in town and it's a small town. But Hamilton isn't a small town,
and we're not the only business in town. So, it's been kind of
overwhelming to see the attachment of the community to Stelco.
WHAT'S THE BEST OUTCOME FOR STELCO AND FOR THE CITY?
It's a well-capitalized Stelco, financially sound, with the money for
the capital expenditure programs that it needs. It's owners, whoever
those owners are, that are committed to the success of the company, and are
supportive of everything that the company does. Including, by the way,
being involved in the community. They aren't just owners who sit back and
all they care about is the stock price ... I'm a great believer in a
triple bottom line, so they recognize not just the economic but the
social and also the environmental, health and safety. This company, to
really be a great company, as much as any, really has to embrace that
triple bottom line.
IT HASN'T DONE A GOOD JOB SO FAR?
No, I think it's tried. It's tried very hard. I think this company is
very conscious of the environment and health and safety, it's done a
great job there. It's not done a very good job in the last period of time
on the social side. I mean, we've virtually ignored the community. So, on
that side, I think we've done a very poor job.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES GOING FORWARD?
Well, they're huge. Building on the strength we have getting out.
Really working hard to improve the labour relations. I mean, if we don't
get that fixed, this company's not going to be a good performer. We
cannot carry on like this indefinitely. It's too self destructive. And
there are lots of other good companies that have good labour relations,
and we just won't be able to compete ...
The whole process of changing the culture, and that goes beyond labour
relations. I mean, we do have a huge culture challenge, and that's not
something you do overnight ... We're going to have to look at changing
reward systems, changing recognition systems, making sure we're sending
the right messages to people, we're supporting and recognizing the right
behaviour, all that sort of stuff. That's the fun stuff, the fun stuff of
organizational change, and that's what I would love to be a part of.
One area where this company has made no investment is in people ...
There's been literally no training going on, no development going on, no
nothing. And so, it will be great to be part of bringing the company
back, starting to make those kinds of investments again.
DO YOU EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO GET PAST THESE LABOUR RELATIONS PROBLEMS
AT SOME POINT?
Yes, I do. Because, it's a sad fact that in many places where you have
bad labour relations you have to sink to the depths of a major crisis as
the catalyst for moving forward. It's not always the case, but it often
is. As we come out of this we will certainly have had our crisis and
usually everybody learns. And don't take this as I'm simply blaming the
union, because there's two parts to this, and we'll all have to take
stock and talk about how we can make sure this doesn't happen again.
DO YOU THINK THE LABOUR OPPOSITION COMES FROM THE HISTORY?
The big thing we have to get over is the history, quite frankly. So
much focus has been on who's to blame for how we got here. Blame
management, blame the union ... Attaching blame is not to anybody's
benefit. Fixing this company is to everybody's benefit. And pure and
simple, I think that's what we have to get over. And I can say this
honestly, and I think people like Bill (Ferguson) and Rolf (Gerstenberger)
would say it, there's no difficulty personally with those guys, we get
along well. I mean, if you walk in the room and hate each other, then you
can say we've got to bring a bunch of new players into this. But that's
certainly not the case with me, I don't think it's the case with them.
So, it's really a question of looking at this as we've got a chance for a
fresh start.
WHAT IS THE WORST SCENARIO THAT YOU CONTEMPLATED LAST JANUARY?
Well the worst scenario that I contemplated was that we were going to
have to do a lot of very tough things to people. And, as I say, I don't
know if anybody enjoys doing that but I really don't like doing that. But
I took the job on the understanding that to save the company we might
have to do some of those things.
I never believed the company would go bust. It never entered my mind.
This company is way too important to the city, to the province, to the
country, to the steel industry to have gone bust. So, I always believed,
firmly believed, that we were going to find a way out of this. But I
thought it was going to be a much much tougher, much more human pain way
of this than what we've been able to do.
tperkins@thespec.com 905-526-4620
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