The Baltimore Sun reported that recently retired workers at RG Steel are being told they will not get an expected retirement bonus after all.

RG Steel had promised USD 10,000 retirement bonuses to steelworkers at the Baltimore area Sparrows Point mill. Between 100 and 200 steelworkers took up the offer in August 2012. But the company, which filed for bankruptcy in May 2012, now has broken that promise to some of them.

Mr Joe Rosel president of the United Steelworkers Local 9477 said that RG Steel is claiming that these workers retired too late to secure the bonus. He added that "The company now is going to say they didn't guarantee it. But they certainly did give people the impression that they were going to get it."

RG Steel did not widely publicize its August 2012 deadline for workers to sign up for the retirement bonus. Many steelworkers retired at the last minute.

RG Steel stopped operating the Sparrows Point mill in May 2012 when it filed for bankruptcy, and the mill's future remains uncertain. The steel company sold the mill in August 2012 to a redevelopment firm collaborating with a liquidation company.

Benefits for Sparrows Point's 2,000 workers expired at the end of August 2012 and RG Steel has laid off a number of workers.

Steelmakers have been struggling since steel prices plunged last year because of the crisis in Europe and economic slowdown in China.

Source - Baltimore Sun

(www.steelguru.com)