3 days mean a lot to this Steelworker
John Stucke - Staff writer
Just 72 hours.
That's three days. A holiday weekend.
For Michael Sullivan, it represents the difference between a regular paycheck and uncertainty.
Kaiser Aluminum Corp. hired him Dec. 4, 1990, to work in its Mead smelter. On his resume, he wrote: "I'm looking for a job with a future."
The company laid him off Dec. 1, just 72 hours short of his 10th anniversary.
It doesn't seem like a big deal, he said, until the benefits of being a 10-year employee are considered.
With three children at home and new granddaughter Gracie Mae to support, the Sullivan family could use a break.
Kaiser wages are hard to beat in Spokane. A family such as the Sullivans can afford a middle-class lifestyle on steady, blue-collar work at the Mead smelter.
But Kaiser work hasn't been steady this decade for employees on the bottom rungs of seniority.
Layoffs hit the newest Steelworkers first. And during a layoff, benefits differ among workers with fewer than 10 years of experience.
With Kaiser's smelter idled until October, the 169 Steelworkers with two to 10 years of experience may find themselves without pay after January.
That's because a company program designed to pay laid-off workers a stipend will be insolvent.
While Steelworkers with 10-plus years of experience have separate benefit packages negotiated with Kaiser, those with fewer than 10 -- such as Sullivan -- may be out of luck.
It's a cruel twist, acknowledged Dan Russell, president of Steelworkers Local 329.
At least through January, all Kaiser employees laid off since November will draw full paychecks, even though they aren't working. Other Steelworkers not brought back after the two-year labor dispute will get a $1,000 Christmas bonus instead.
But unless Kaiser can find the money to pay full wages after January, workers with fewer than 10 years on the job won't receive any company pay.
Workers with more than 10 years will draw at least 70 percent of their normal wages, with medical and dental benefits.
"We feel there's sort of a spell on us," said Judy Sullivan, shaking her head and recounting the past two years. "We could handle the lockout. But once (Michael) went back to work, we thought things had turned around."
Hardly. A few weeks after returning to work, Kaiser announced it was going to resell a portion of the electricity it buys from the Bonneville Power Administration.
One and a half potlines and about 145 workers were the casualties.
Sullivan, three days short of the 10-year threshold, took his family back into lockout mode. No more meals at McDonald's. The morning paper will fall victim to family budget cuts in January. Judy will go back to juggling three jobs, and Michael will work for a company that takes him out of town sometimes for a week straight, changing signs on gas station canopies. It pays about half as much as Kaiser.
Yet they feel blessed.
Many of Kaiser's laid-off Steelworkers can't find work that pays the bills. Some area companies shy away from hiring Steelworkers. In today's tight labor market, companies want to hire good workers and keep them, not lose out when Kaiser recalls its work force.
"Someday, we'll be thankful for this experience," Judy said. "God has a plan and put us on this road. We should be thankful. We have a beautiful new granddaughter and we've grown much closer as a family."
She added: "I just wish we knew where this road ended."