Word: weirton
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Weirton, W. Va., was not exactly named "in honor" of Ernest T. Weir. Rather, when Weir bought a tract of farm land in the state's panhandle in 1909 and built a sprawling steelmaking complex, he needed people and houses to go along with his factory. Thus the town was born. Today Weirton Steel Co. is a division of National Steel Corp., but a majority of the labor force in Weirton (pop. 25,536) still works in the rumbling, fuming steelworks along Main Street. "It's sink or swim together," says Mary Brula, a bank teller whose husband...
Lately, sinking together has been a distinct possibility. In March, National Steel announced it was "not economically feasible" to modernize the marginally profitable (less than $10 million on 1981 sales of $1 billion) Weirton plant; the company prefers to invest in other enterprises with "the potential for substantially higher returns." By 1987 most of the factory would be shut down and 70% of the work force fired, unless, National Steel said, Weirton's 8,800 workers would like to buy the facility and run it themselves...
...have wondered if and how the sale, which would be the largest of its kind in the U.S., might be accomplished. Last week a consulting firm, hired by the Steelworkers, said it was possible. To get financing and ensure future profitability, however, sacrifice would be required: at least 400 Weirton employees would be laid off and the rest would face a 32% cut in pay and fringe benefits. Moreover, the workers would have to spend $1 billion on new equipment through the 1980s. The payroll saving would be used to buy stock in a new, worker-owned company, and that...
...Weirton native and the union's lawyer. "You can talk all you want about 'worker participation,' but you don't have anything unless you have a decent business." Right now the steel company is both the largest employer and taxpayer in the state. Employees have always had their own in-house union, unaffiliated with the United Steelworkers of America, and relations with management have been comparatively smooth (no strikes since the Depression) and rewarding (wages and benefits average $24.65 an hour, compared with about $22 for Steelworkers nationally...
...Weirton THE HOME OF THE MIGHTY TIN CAN; old-fashioned tin plate, which has lost much of its market to aluminum and plastics, accounts for half of the plant's 2 million-ton annual production...