Posted on 02/09/2003 4:00:38 PM PST by A Patriot Son
Bethlehem Steel collapse leaves retired workers scrambling for benefits
(AP) Sun, Feb. 09, 2003 BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Some of them went to work in the blast furnaces when they were just 18, then spent half a lifetime handling molten slag and inhaling steel dust in some of the most dangerous jobs on earth.
But for the tens of thousands of Bethlehem Steel workers who stuck it out, retirement brought a rich reward: a hefty pension and a lifetime of almost free health care for themselves and their families.
"It was capitalism's version of socialized medicine," said James Van Vliet, a retired Bethlehem Steel vice president. "And it was an implied contract. It was the company and the workers saying, 'We are going to take care of each other.'"
It may go down in history as a promise unfulfilled.
Bankrupt and only a shadow of its former might, Bethlehem Steel on Friday announced it was seeking bankruptcy court approval to terminate health and life insurance benefits for 95,000 retired workers and their dependents on March 31.
The move, seen as essential to the company's bid to sell its assets to International Steel Group, followed news in December that Bethlehem Steel's pension plan was underfunded by $3.2 billion and would be turned over to a government agency.
Both pieces of bad news were expected. The American steel industry has been in decline for decades, and most of its former giants have been trimming pensions and benefits for retirees for years.
But the one-two punch is still a staggering blow for a generation that had been promised a lifetime of comforts in return for a career spent at one company.
Now, some are facing the prospect of seeing their monthly $6 payments for health insurance jump to between $200 and $300.
"That's a lot to swallow," said Len Christman, 67, who worked 39 years at Bethlehem Steel's sprawling plant in Bethlehem, about 40 miles north of Philadelphia. "It's a very tough position to be in at this stage in life."
Nearly all retirees will continue to enjoy some benefits. Pension payments, which are being taken over by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., are expected to continue at about 90 percent of their former level. For workers over 65, the federal Medicare program will pick up some health care costs.
But Medicare, which covers hospital visits, but doesn't pay for medications, won't come close to covering all the health problems suffered by many retired steel workers.
Joe Pancoe, who worked for Bethlehem Steel for 31 years, said that at 81, he has asthma and a hacking cough, and uses a slew of pills and inhalers to soothe his battered lungs.
"We, the old timers, were part of the industrial revolution. And now, we are part of the medical revolution. We have the emphysemas, we have the cancers. We have everything," he said.
He isn't positive his illnesses were related to his work as a spray painter in the plant's fabrication division, where he said his spit turned red from inhaling fumes, or in the research lab where he regularly handled bags of asbestos.
But as he sees it, the country owes him something either way. His labor built propellors for battleships and girders for skyscrapers and bridges.
"We helped the country, and the people who helped to build the country should get the benefit of it," Pancoe said.
Almost all workers agree Bethlehem Steel is in little position to help. When it filed for bankruptcy in 2001, the company had about 12,000 employees, down from more than 300,000 during World War II. And most factories have been closed, including the one in Bethlehem. The company's board also voted Saturday to sell the company's assets to Cleveland-based International Steel Group, a deal that is subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.
Bruce Davis, a retired Bethlehem Steel lawyer who now serves as legal counsel for the Retired Employees Benefit Coalition, said several labor groups are negotiating to at least temporarily extend health-care benefits.
The coalition has asked that the company continue health benefits until May 31, rather than March. It also anticipates that it will be able to offer Bethlehem Steel retirees a replacement health insurance package similar to ones offered to retirees at other bankrupt steel companies.
The hardest burden, Davis said, will be borne by retired workers who are under 65, and thereby unable to qualify for Medicare coverage.
"We need to find a way to get them to age 65 without bankrupting their financial portfolio," Davis said. "If we can do that, the pain of seeing this proud company walk away from them, after so many years, will be considerably lessened."
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On the Net:
Bethlehem Steel: http://www.bethsteel.com
The Socialism comes in when the government allows the company to void the contracts and agrees to let you---the American taxpayer provide for these people instead---off the the government teat/dole!
Is that what you want?
"It was capitalism's version of socialized medicine," said James Van Vliet, a retired Bethlehem Steel vice president. "And it was an implied contract. It was the company and the workers saying, 'We are going to take care of each other.'"
What has socialized medicine got to do with workers and employers coming to an agreement where part of the pay package was a guaranteed healthcare program? That isn't socialism. Are vacations, holidays, sick leave etc. socialism? Heck no. They are a compensated benefit meeted out based on hours worked and benefits achieved. Every hour these employees worked, the employer was essentially promising to set aside a portion of funds to insure their healthcare in perpetuity.
That may sound unfair the the employer. Over a 45 year career, we're talking about close to 100,000 hours of labor. If three or four dollars an hour were put into a fund for these emplyees, as part of their pay package, this would never have happened. So basicly what Bethlehem Steel is admitting to, is that they did not follow through with their end of the bargain.
Steel industry employees were highly paid. They had good benefits packages because the steel industry was making good profits.
Management agreed to provide this service. The employees worked their entire service careers under this agreement. Now the funds aren't there. When these employees were working, and the steel industry was healthy, Bethlehem management should have been putting funds away to make sure this fund was solvent.
Now this peckerhead claims that this was sortof like socialism. No, evidently it was sortof like fraud!
But where would they get insurance for anything near as cheaply as the company provided? You can't.
And how would you set something like that up ahead of time?
Do you think this "peckerhead" is going to have to surrender part of his compensation that he received over the years? Is he going to have to give up his stock options or millions of dollars in bonuses he likely got?
His comment about this being "socialism" is nothing more than an attempt to get the knee-jerk anti-labor Republicans to get on his side when it comes to screwing over the workers.
They won't suck at the government's teat, if we taxpayers have any say in it.
---MonroeDNA
What the hell are you talking about? They didn't get a free ride!!! The government didn't provide their benefits at your taxpayer expense! The company paid the premiums as it agreed to in written contracts in exchange for their labor.
It was no free ride.----No socialism involved! The company agreed to it! The government and you did not pay for it. Can you understand that?
Now a government worker, now that's another story...
Where in the world do you get the idea that these workers received a free ride? Have you ever worked in a steel mill? Ever done any physical labor?
I spent two summers in a steel mill as an undergraduate; it is like being in the mouth of hell. After 40 years of such work, these brave men deserve to die comfortably.
When are conservatives going to realize that we have more in common with the worker-bees than the corporate beanbags that have no loyalty to the United States?
But we know that the real roots of these problems are our government's policies of allowing foriegn imports to come into our country tax-free while they tax, and regulate, and fine the living hell out of our American manufacturers, farmers, mining, and shipping concerns and other producers.
We told them we couldn't compete with South Koreans, Chinese, and Eastern Europeans at those labor costs. The USW said, "Screw you, pay this or we'll shut you down." The union officers have lost nothing. They had even richer packages and they are all OK.
I regret the pain to individuals, but they are the ones who walked the picket lines for the unions that ruined the company and the industry. They are getting what they deserve.
Just for the record the search did not bring it up and it was only posted 20-some minutes before.
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