As reported in The Spec, a Federal court affirmed workers' rights to be given intervenor status, which essentially means that they will have official status in the court proceedings and be able to put forth certain claims/arguments. The union is seeking lost wages that resulted from the shutdown. U.S. Steel had argued that the union was abusing the proceedings to get benefits for itself that fell outside the "fruit of the negotiations".
The judge ruled that the union and Lakeside Steel can intervene to address penalties not sought by the government. This includes lost wages and possible forced sale of the company.
In general, before a party is allowed to intervene in a case, they must be able to show that they will be affected by the case.
Assuming there will be no further appeals by the company, a hearing can commence in the spring.
Your thoughts? Was the right decision made?
I have been thinking about this lookout and would like to pen my thoughts on this matter and would welcome any feedback from pensioners and locked out employees. Here are my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWe all know that this lock out will last for a long time since the blast (s) furnace(s) are shut down. The nagging issues are the index pensions of existing pensioners. Why wouldn't the union assume half of responsibility for the indexed pensions eg; if the index for the year is 3% the union pays from general funds 1 1/2% of the index amount and the company pays the other half. I would think that this liability would lessen over time. Currently they are paying lock out workers as per the media, 900 of them, a total of $18,000 a week. For how many weeks will that be? Who knows? These workers at an average let's say $25/hour times 40 hours have lost that income forever.
Secondly new hires, will have a defined pension which is now the norm. Realistically speaking how many new full time ( which would qualify for a pension)hires will U.S Steel put on board in the coming years? I do not want to appear callous regarding the fact that these workers are taking a hit financially, however if one does the math maybe the cost of paying half the index amount would put these guys and gals back at work. Are the union leaders taking strike pay as well or is it business as usual for their weekly pay cheque ? There is food for thought on this issue such as why was any propositions from US Steel not put to a vote to its members. I see a situation where the union leaders are not serving its membership properly. Any thoughts?
Must be the turkey that I ate, my math is wrong the union is paying out $180,000 per week not $18,000 as posted earlier, to the lockout employees. Instead of putting its members back at work. God forbid this lockout last six months, lets do the math 900 employees X $200/week X 4 weeks X 6 months= $4,320,000 millions. What would you think that sharing the indexing for 2,000 retirees would be?
ReplyDeleteIt is high time that Rolph Gerstenberger and company wake up and accept the same deal as those at Lake Erie Works. Quit being greedy, US Steel will never give them the big payout they want. I wouldn't blame US Steel if they completely shuttered the Hilton Works plant. They've hired more then two hundred new employee's out at the Lake since it reopened, obviously people don't mind working for them and the defined contribution pension plan.
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