Sparrows Point is now being shopped as a package deal with two other Severstal plants by the United Steelworkers Union (USW), which is exercising its contractual right with Severstal to seek potential buyers for the troubled facilities.

Many local steelworkers believe that the best chance to sell Sparrows Point is as a “stand-alone” facility.

But Frank Rossi, a staff member for the international USW, told a union meeting yesterday that, “it is in the best interest of all three plants if all three be sold together,” sources quoted Rossi as saying.

The USW represents hourly workers at the former Wheeling-Pitt mills in the Ohio Valley and the former WCI plant in Warren, Ohio. Severstal shut down these operations in the spring of 2009, with only limited restarts since then.

Rossi confirmed a report in the Brew last week that Severstal owner Alexei Mordashov has already rejected several bids for the facilities as “unacceptable.”

The bids were reportedly far below the $810 million he paid for Sparrows Point and the $1.6 billion he paid for the Ohio mills.

Three New Bids Offered

Rossi said the union has helped arrange three more bids that have not yet been acted upon by Mordashov. “We are in a tight situation,” Rossi was quoted as saying. “The international is lobbying for buyers because we don’t have any faith in Severstal.”

John Cirri, president of Sparrows Point Local 9477, said about 900 workers are now on voluntary or forced layoffs due to the closure of the “L” blast furnace and other operations. Once the finishing mills are idled next month, he expects the number to rise to about 1,200 layoffs.

Severstal is beginning a program to “winterize” the idled facilities and place them in “asset protection mode,” he disclosed.

These steps indicate that the company is prepared for a shutdown that may extend past December 31 and into the first weeks or months of 2011.

O’Malley Talks to Severstal

Cirri said Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has talked to owner Mordashov and his aides and expressed his concern about the layoffs.

Asked what Severstal needs from the state government to facilitate the sale of Sparrows Point, the representatives told O’Malley, “We don’t know,” according to Cirri.

“They ain’t got a clue – or they’re the smartest sons of bitches in the world,” Cirri said of management at yesterday’s meeting.