BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana
holecek@nwitimes.com
BURNS HARBOR | As part of an agreement with its union to limit layoffs, ArcelorMittal began scheduling a 32-hour work week for about 25 percent of the workers at its Burns Harbor plant Monday.
The United Steelworkers Local 6787 consented to the short work week for 900 of the plant's 3,450 workers as part of a larger agreement aimed at avoiding the involuntary layoffs of 2,444 workers. The company planned the layoffs in response to the extremely weak global steel market.
While on the short week, the workers will lose one-fifth of their weekly pay, officials said.
The scheduling change affects the entire 650-person work force of the finishing mill and scores of workers in the steel producing department and plate mill, said Paul Gipson, president of USW Local 6787. Gipson was instrumental in negotiating the agreement with the company.
ArcelorMittal had filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice with the state Nov. 21 that stated it potentially could layoff the 2,444 hourly workers. Four days later, the company and union reached the agreement that halts the mass layoff unless market conditions worsen.
In addition to the shortened work week, the agreement requires that 490 workers agree to take voluntary layoffs. Currently, 250 have volunteered, Gipson said.
The voluntary layoff sign-up period has been extended until Monday, he said. In the meantime, the local and the company will launch an in-house and Web-based publicity campaign to inform workers of the terms and possible benefits of volunteering to be laid off for eight, 12, 18 or 26 weeks, officials there said.
During a layoff, workers would receive full benefits including health care. And workers with more than 20 years of service would receive about 80 percent of their base pay through unemployment and company-funded pay. For those workers, the amount would be about $100 less than their pay for a 32-hour work week.
"There's not a lot of difference, especially for someone who's planning to retire after Jan. 1, when the extra $10,000 payment kicks in for those over age 60," Gipson said. "Once our members understand the terms, we'll get more volunteers."
Under the agreement, if the desired number of volunteers isn't reached, the company would reach its 490-worker goal through mandatory layoffs of those with the least seniority
ArcelorMittal didn't respond to calls for comment Tuesday.