Pensioners fear for future as U.S. Steel looks to cut benefits
Mayor Fred Eisenberger says province and Ottawa must intervene to protect community
Steelworkers and pensioners protested, Wednesday, outside the Toronto courthouse where U.S. Steel Canada is arguing it should be allowed to stop paying pension contributions and property taxes.
On Monday, a court monitor report supported the plan from U.S. Steel Canada to suspend health care benefits to pensioners.
Benefits are huge, because I don't know what my future is going to be.- USSC pensioner Chris Young
The court-appointed monitor agreed, in a report Oct. 2 with U.S. Steel, that it will have to stop operating soon if it doesn't implement financial measures that include suspending payments for other employment benefits to pensioners (OPEBs) and some pension benefits.
The monitor also agreed that U.S. Steel Canada needs a reprieve from paying property taxes. The company made this request as it seeks extension of its Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) bankruptcy protection, which is scheduled to end in December.
A court ruling allowing for that reprieve would mean a significant hit to city coffers, said Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger in letter sent to federal and provincial leaders and media Wednesday.
The loss of $6 million in municipal taxes would be equivalent to a 1 per cent tax increase for residents, he said.
"The loss ... compounded year after year would have a tremendously negative impact on the city's finances," he said.
Eisenberger called on the provincial and federal governments to intervene to protect the 7,000 U.S. Steel Canada pensioners in Hamilton, thousands of other pensioners and workers around the province. He cited the precedent of the governments' responses when the auto sector failed more than a decade ago.
"20,000 people in Hamilton and the Golden Horseshoe is also significant, and requires immediate action," Eisenberger said. "Those numbers are startling, and I would suggest even more serious considering who is impacted. ... We need reassurance that a plan is in place for our most significant and impacted residents."
'This is utterly unthinkable'
"In every single monitor's report, they've steered the way of U.S. Steel Canada," Gary Howe, president of the United Steelworkers Union Local 1005, said.
Another court appearance is scheduled for Thursday. "This is utterly appalling and I've even used the words unthinkable," Howe said.
The monitor, in his report acknowledges the concerns of the union and "agrees that this will impact many individuals who have no responsibility for what has happened."
But he argues it is the only way to keep the company operating, saying: "The unfortunate (but inevitable) fact is that USSC does not have access to liquidity or financing to honour these obligations," adding that if the order is not made the company would have to temporarily cease operations. Howe has filed an affidavit arguing against the suspension of OPEBs and pension benefits.
One of the protesters Wednesday was 66-year-old Chris Young, a 30-year veteran of U.S. Steel who uses a walker and relies on his benefits to fund medications and treatments for his diabetes and degenerative spinal condition.
The threat of losing that benefit plan and pension — which came from deferred wages during his working days, he said — is "inhuman."
"Don't let the Americans get away with this," he said.
Watch the video above for more of Young's perspective.