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USW Wins $1.3 Million for Employees and Retirees in Kentucky

For Immediate Release                                        November 28, 2006

Pittsburgh – Several hundred former employees and retirees of an aluminum smelter in Hawesville, Ky., now represented by the United Steelworkers, are entitled to share the $1.3 million proceeds of a stock distribution from the reorganization of a mutual insurance company into a stock company, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Nov. 22 reversed a previous decision in favor of Southwire, a former owner of the smelter, issued on Sept. 29, 2004 by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky at Owensboro.

The Appeals Court cited Kentucky law and the demutualization plan adopted by Prudential Insurance in making its decision to remand the case back to district court for further proceedings consistent with the new opinion.

The former employees and retirees were supported by the USW, which engaged the Washington law firm of Bredhoff & Kaiser, to argue their case and paid all legal expenses.

The smelter has been owned since 2000 by Century Aluminum, which also claimed