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
This is where you are mistaken, as were the Bethlehem Steel employees who were left in the lurch. Your husband only receives full medical coverage for 40 more years after retirement if the company remains solvent for that period of time.
This is a very important distinction that needs to be made.
Who signed the contract? Did the Company sign ity and agree to it??? Of course they did.
What do you mean there is no MONEY? You think the company buying them has no money??? Ofcourse they do! If they don't want to honor their contrctual debts then they shouldn't buy the company.
This sort of nonsense is what drives normal, hard working, good men to the dark side.
I've seen it happen.
Unions are socialist.
Socialism is when you get what you think you need, no matter what you produce.
"From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need" --Kal Marx
When you pay someone more than he/she is worth, becuase of threat of strike, it's socialism.
Sources for what? The $13/ton labor cost? The amount a retiree pays for healthcare out of their own pocket?
Here is the source for the $13/ton: Trade rules must be enforced
Since I am a steel industry retiree, I think I know a little about the healthcare figures...oh wait...I'm one of those you'd have starve or die...
Sorry to disappoint you, but I plan on staying alive thanks. BTW, I worked in a mill for 30 years...got two BS degrees while I was there and right now I'm three credit hours away from my MBA. I think I know a little more about the steel industry than you do...
If that's not the way it works, then the employees have been jobed!
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
This is actually a common problem with pension plans in old industrial giants. These pension plans are sometimes underfunded because the average life expectancy has increased so dramatically over the last 50 years. Someone who retires at age 60 could very well spend more years collecting a pension and health care benefits than he did working for the company -- when these pension plans were first put in place, it was fairly uncommon for someone to live more than ten years after he retired.
Wow. Did you really say that?
"oh wait...I'm one of those you'd have starve or die..."
"oh wait...I'm one of those you'd have starve or die..."
"oh wait...I'm one of those you'd have starve or die..."
Your Dick Gepheardt, right?
Answer these questions:
(1)Is it Socialism when the US government spend billions and builds modern steel plant in China, South Korea, Russia, Japan and Germany as it has?
(2)Do you aprove of this International Socialism at American citizens' expense?
It doesn't take an advanced degree to acknowledge the source of the western world's economic woes.
CHINA
Open Trade with a totalitarian tyranny... an organization ( no country ) with a currency that is about as transparent and flexible as a slab of concrete. With trading partners like this who needs an enemy.
Yet you want the citizens and US taxpayers to get screwed on the deal for a foreign company.
They should remember that assume begins with ass. They assumed they'd be taken care of by some one else. They assumed wrong.
Pretty quick with the "it's all your fault" attitude aren't you.
Just remember a couple of things: They really did help build this country - with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. They actually had the faith to believe in the company, unlike today.
Show some respect....*(@%*#%$!, damn.
LVM
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