Century's Ravenswood plant retirees seek restoration of health benefits

Century Aluminum Company, located in the small town of Ravenswood, West Virginia, has announced it will decide in September whether to reopen its smelting plant, restoring health insurance benefits to retirees. Retirees, including men and women in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, began occupying a median strip along Route 33 in front of the closed Century Aluminum smelter plant December 18 last year after Century cancelled their health insurance.

The retirees, who were members of the United Steelworkers union, accepted lower wages than those of other industry workers in exchange for lifelong high-quality health coverage—a necessity in an industry fraught with danger, grueling physical labor, and long-term health risks.

Once the plant closed in February of 2009, the retirees’ health benefits were put on the chopping block. The company eliminated health care coverage for retirees eligible for Medicare in June of 2010. Retirees without Medicare were cut off of health care in January 2011.

“We’ve not had any hope ever since it closed down,” Century retiree Franklin McCoy told WSAZ News during a demonstration. “We’re going on the third year now. It’s had a big impact on me. I worked out there 38 years.”

In the past two years, at least 20 former Century workers have died, some as young as 50.

Century contends that it can only reinstate health care if it reopens the plant. It is unclear what the working conditions or the pay of the workers will be if the plant is reopened, or if all of the 651 laid-off workers will be rehired. Earlier this year, the company suggested that 400 workers could return.

What is certain is that the terms and conditions of re-opening the plant have been left by the USW in the hands of Century. The company has insisted that it must have a more flexible power contract, a new labor agreement, and improvements that would help ensure the plant could remain profitable.

The plant was Appalachian Power’s biggest customer, representing 10 percent of overall power consumption. When the Century plant shut down, it meant the power company had a smaller customer base to work with, and fewer customers over which to spread cost and rate increases.

Century insists that Appalachian Power (APCO) must cut its electricity rates to the plant for it to reopen. Any reduction in rates to the company would be subsidized through a steep rate hike to residential APCO customers. West Virginia is one of the poorest states in the US, with double-digit poverty and a large number of elderly and disabled residents. An increase in utility costs will hit these layers hard.

The living conditions in Ravenswood have suffered tremendously over the past several decades, a state of affairs that sharpened considerably with the onset of the economic crisis. After the Century plant closure, food pantries registered a quadrupling of clients in need of help. Working class families and elderly residents were thrust deeper into poverty, with many unable to make mortgage payments, losing their vehicles to repossession, and being unable to afford health care, utilities, or food.

The state Public Service Commission has delayed ruling on Century’s electric rate request until mid-September.