08:43:15 EDT Fri 29 Mar 2024
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Algoma Steel Group Inc
Symbol ASTL
Shares Issued 146,384,819
Close 2022-08-05 C$ 12.21
Market Cap C$ 1,787,358,640
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Algoma Steel submits revised "best and final" CBA offer

2022-08-05 20:27 ET - News Release

Mr. Michael Garcia reports

ALGOMA STEEL TABLES REVISED BEST AND FINAL OFFER IN COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT NEGOTIATIONS WITH USW LOCAL 2251

Algoma Steel Group Inc. has submitted a revised best and final collective bargaining agreement (CBA) offer to the negotiating committee of United Steelworkers Local Union 2251, the union representing Algoma's hourly employees.

Algoma has again received notice that the 2251 negotiating committee has refused the offer and is unwilling to bring the offer to employees for a vote.

Algoma believes its offer to 2251 provides a highly competitive compensation package that is superior to many of the company's peers in the industry and includes numerous health and wellness benefit enhancements and protections offered by the company in an effort to reach an agreement.

Algoma's revised and improved best and final offer contains improvements to the CBA including:

  • Wage and cost of living increases totalling approximately 15.2 per cent over four years, including the most recent COLA wage increase, plus increased afternoon, night and Sunday shift premiums;
  • Signing bonus of $6,000 for established employees ($1,000 for non-established employees) upon ratification:
    • Increases to employee benefits that include:
    • Increase in the company's contributions to the defined contribution pension by a total of $1.00 per hour over four years;
    • Increase in major medical benefits, including lifetime maximum and visit allotments;
    • Increase in vision care;
    • Increase in dental benefits, including improvements to lifetime maximum for orthodontics and crown coverage;
    • Increase in short-term and long-term disability reduced earnings caps;
    • Increase in meal and boot allowances.
  • Increase in retiree health benefits, including increased lifetime maximum, coverage for glucose monitoring systems, and more for hearing aids and eyeglasses.

Algoma president and chief executive officer Michael Garcia commented: "We have worked tirelessly over the last several weeks to come up with a monetary proposal that is seen by both the company and the union bargaining committee as fair, competitive and affordable through all points of the steel cycle. We accomplished this with USW Local 2724, whose bargaining committee and membership approved largely the same offer we have presented to Local 2251. We will continue our efforts to find a way forward that avoids a business interruption."

About Algoma Steel Group Inc.

Based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Canada, Algoma is a fully integrated producer of hot and cold rolled steel products including sheet and plate. With a current raw steel production capacity of an estimated 2.8 million tons per year, Algoma's size and diverse capabilities enable it to deliver responsive, customer-driven product solutions straight from the ladle to direct applications in the automotive, construction, energy, defence and manufacturing sectors. Algoma is a key supplier of steel products to customers in Canada and Midwest United States; it is the only producer of plate steel products in Canada. Algoma's mill is one of the lowest-cost producers of hot-rolled sheet steel (HRC) in North America, owing, in part, to its state-of-the-art direct strip production complex (DSPC), which is the newest thin-slab caster in North America with direct coupling to a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) melt shop.

Algoma has achieved several meaningful improvements over the past several years that are expected to result in enhanced long-term profitability for the business. Algoma has upgraded its DSPC facility and recently installed its No. 2 ladle metallurgy furnace. Additionally, Algoma has cost-cutting initiatives under way and is in the process of modernizing its plate mill facilities.

Today, Algoma is on a transformation journey, investing in its people and processes, optimizing and modernizing to secure a sustainable future. The company's customer focus, growing capability and courage to meet the industry's challenges head-on position the company firmly as your partner in steel.

We seek Safe Harbor.

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