Baltimore Brew

Full text of Aug. 29, 2012 statement – signed by Anthony C. “Tony” Montana of USW Communications in Pittsburgh – that mentions Baltimore Brew reporting

Normally, we do not respond to incorrect or misinformed news reports, but because the Baltimore Brew continues to publish stories about our former RG Steel facilities that are full of inaccurate information and wrongly imply the USW is to blame for the uncertain future of our facilities, we believe it’s important to set the record straight.

Because the Brew proves time after time that it could care less about attempting to understand the full picture, let alone portraying that full picture for its readers, we fear that its “stirring up news and views” has done more harm than good to our effort to seek out and pursue options to prevent the liquidation and permanent closure of Sparrows Point and the other former RG facilities.

The responsible journalists in Baltimore, Northeast Ohio, the Ohio Valley and industry reporters nationwide understand that our union is leading the fight to save our jobs, our plants and our communities. We are operating transparently. However, because potential buyers often insist on confidentiality, serious reporters accept that our union’s efforts to save these facilities sometimes means that we cannot disclose those details or speculate about rumors.

In the past few months and during the bankruptcy process, over 100 potential investors or entities have expressed interest in our plants and continuing to make steel. The USW has cooperated with potential investors who expressed an interest in making steel and provided information to support their due-diligence and research.

Although we cannot speculate about the rationale of those parties for their decisions against purchasing our mills, there should be no doubt that if a buyer emerges with financing and a desire to make steel with our members at any of these facilities, the USW will step up to the plate and fight to make it happen.

Despite what the Brew has previously implied, the USW has had counsel present at every important hearing in the RG case, including the hearings that were held to consider the sale of all the various facilities.
Attorneys for the USW entered appearances on the first day of the bankruptcy case on May 31, and since then, USW lawyers in Pittsburgh, New York and Wilmington have remained involved. In addition, by maintaining a prominent role on the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee, we have been better able to make our affected members’ voices heard in court proceedings.

Because of their efforts, our members and retirees kept their healthcare, supplemental unemployment and other benefits several months longer than they would have had the financial decisions been left to the banks and the court alone. Admittedly, those expecting a dramatic, last-minute flourish from the USW’s attorneys to convince RG Steel’s lenders to give the company money for free were disappointed.

Sparrows Point, like most of the rest of RG’s mills, was sold to a party whose business generally is liquidating plants, despite all of our combined efforts to find an operator. If a potential operator had actually appeared at the auction, the USW certainly would have stood up to support them.
However, only liquidators showed up for the auctions of Sparrows Point and the other RG mills.
Given the current realities and with RG’s banks pressing the company to immediately terminate all benefit programs, the USW negotiated a modified agreement that provides workers and retirees with significantly better treatment than what RG’s banks otherwise would have given to them. We retained healthcare until the end of August, secured several months to look for operators and maintained some basic successorship rights, if and when a buyer appears.
In the meantime, the USW is aggressively pursuing as many options as we can to mitigate the impact of this series of catastrophic events on the members and retirees we represent by sharing information about benefits and other programs available through government-sponsored tax credits, trade adjustment assistance and existing voluntary employees benefit association trusts, among others.

We have separately committed to working with the new owners of these facilities in an effort to keep the assets safe while the search for other parties to buy any of the former RG facilities and pursue a reopening continues.

No one can guarantee what will happen next. As soon as we have new information to report, USW members and retirees will hear more from their local unions about the developments in this fast-moving case. Above all else, the USW will continue to fight for the future of these facilities, as we have for generations.