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Union Announces 2007 Payment Increase for ArcelorMittal VEBA Participants
Benefit Trust to Reimburse Retirees, Spouses for Medicare Premiums
For Immediate Release November 29, 2007
PITTSBURGH - The United Steelworkers (USW) today announced that some 53,000 retirees and surviving spouses who lost health care coverage in the bankruptcies of four steel companies are getting extra financial help with their Medicare Part B premiums from an innovative trust fund bargained by the USW to assist them.
Checks will be mailed during the first week of December to USW-represented retirees and spouses from Bethlehem Steel, LTV, Acme Metals and Georgetown Steel, said Thomas Duzak, director of pension and benefits for the USW.
The checks will reimburse eligible individuals for up to twelve months of Medicare Part B premiums paid during 2007. A single retiree will receive up to $720 and couples $1,440. Part B premiums were typically $93.50 a month for Medicare beneficiaries. The VEBA benefit amount was increased from $25 per month, as originally announced to retirees, to $60 per month.
“This benefit payout reflects our continuing commitment to represent the interests of retirees who were abandoned by their former employers and betrayed by the bankruptcy courts,” USW President Leo W. Gerard said.
The one-time benefit is being paid for from a benefit trust fund, known as the Mittal Steel USA Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA). The VEBA trust was established in 2002 through negotiations between the United Steelworkers and International Steel Group (ISG), which has since been acquired by ArcelorMittal USA (formerly Mittal Steel USA).
The VEBA is funded by contributions from ArcelorMittal, based on company profits and steel tonnage. Benefits are jointly determined by the USW and ArcelorMittal, depending on funds available in the trust and the needs of eligible retirees.
The vast majority of these retirees still live near their former employers, with about 20,000 in Pennsylvania; 7,600 in Ohio; 5,900 in Maryland; 4,700 in New York; 3,600 in Indiana; 1,600 in Illinois; and 1,100 in Minnesota, whereas fewer than 5,000 reside elsewhere in the United States.
The VEBA also provides prescription drug benefits that have been certified to exceed the value of drug benefits available through the Medicare Part D program for approximately 23,000 retirees and spouses.
Previously, the union announced that the maximum annual prescription drug benefit for brand name drugs will increase in 2008 from $6,000 to $9,000 per individual.
Contacts:
Columbus – David McCall, (USW District 1), 614-888-6052
Pittsburgh – Tom Duzak, (International headquarters), 412-562-2296
Cleveland – Mike Mormile, (USW Local 979), 216-441-3124
Northwest Indiana – Pete Trinidad, (USW Local 6787), 219-762-6787
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