Essar Spirit Live on Queen

On Saturday morning, Rotaryfest brought a carnival to Queen Street, infusing energy and a spirit of community into the thousands of families and neighbours who lined the street to join in the revelry. There in the midst of this raucous celebration was the Essar Spirit – Live on Queen, moving to the beat of Four Way Stop, a talented team of musicians featuring Essar’s very own Jim Scali, and friends Rick Rogers, Nick Scali and Bob Yeomans. Thanks to the talents of our employees, this year’s entry staged an array of Caribanna-style costumes and musical accessories. Leading the charge were our saxophone toting Jazz Fish, swaying to the tunes of Jimmy Buffet and dodging the spray from our fun loving children who helped to keep the crowd cool with their super soakers. Our spirited team of employees and their offspring were so engaged with the crowd they could easily have kept on going down Queen Street all the way to the Plant gates!

Special thanks to the judges who saw it fit to honour our entry with First Prize Professional. Looking back at the array of photo galleries and video footage from the parade you can’t help but feel the community spirit this event spawns. We were among friends and we have RotaryFest to thank for the experience.

Kudos to the Rotarians who led the charge and brought this community together in celebration, and to the many who lent a hand along the way – we are indebted. Thanks for the memories.

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

We are just past the halfway point in bargaining with both USW locals at Essar Steel Algoma. The Company is looking to negotiate agreements that ensure the viability, sustainability and continued success of this operation for many generations to come. It comes as no surprise to anyone who reads the Sault media or follows steel that the financial and operational pressures in the steel industry persist. Not the least among these are the increasingly volatile raw material costs.

These pressures weigh heavy as we go through the process of contract negotiations. Finding the balance between a fair and reasonable settlement that reflects the importance of our employees and the realities of the steel industry is challenging. In spite of this we are working towards achieving fair settlements.

We believe that for both USW locals our proposals reflect these realities.

For USW Local 2251, the Local representing our hourly employees, this means we are seeking ways to optimize productivity and to ensure our competitive performance in an increasingly consolidated, global steel industry. Discussions to date have been constructive in this regard and talks are now moving to monetary issues.

For USW Local 2724, which represents the front line supervisors, technical and professional staff, this also includes making changes that will put us on par with our peers in the industry.

Among the items in our proposals to USW 2724 is the need to amend the work terms for our front line supervisors, who are our front line management personnel, in a way that makes us competitive within our industry. Although we understand how this situation evolved it must be corrected.

We invest a great deal in our front line management personnel and we need to be able to guide their respective career path. Current contractual restrictions within the bargaining unit limit their mobility, creating operating inefficiencies and limiting opportunities for professional development.

There is a tremendous talent pool at ESSAR Steel Algoma Inc. and within the ESSAR Group which all global operations benefit from being able to access. With this in mind, our Local 2724 proposals also contain some provision for shared services and for sharing tasks among the Essar group of companies where it is most economical and makes the most business sense. The revisions we are seeking include safeguards for current employees ensuring no employee job is affected by shared services.

In terms of our competitive advantage, no other competitor is prevented from using the economy of shared services to reduce its costs with appropriate protections for existing employees. What we seek is a level playing field.

These important issues are critical to the ongoing viability of the Company, and they are not going away. The sooner we enter into meaningful discussions with Local 2724 on these issues, the sooner we can arrive at solutions that all parties can support.

Congratulations to our first Scholarship of Excellence Recipients!

Left to Right: Nicholas Turco, Stephen Lajambe, Olivia Christie

Essar Steel Algoma launched its Scholarship of Excellence program in March of this year. This academic initiative is offered to local high school students who will continue their education at university or college upon graduation. Academic performance, community involvement, and extracurricular involvement are the key qualities considered when choosing a successful candidate. First consideration is given to a child, grandchild, or legal ward of an Essar employee or retiree. Most importantly, the Scholarship of Excellence offers students in our community an academically and personally rewarding growth opportunity.

The Scholarship of Distinction is awarded to university bound students while the Scholarship of Merit is given to those who elect the college route. Both are renewable for the term of their degree or diploma, subject to minimum performance requirements.

This year’s call for applicants was met with great enthusiasm and the Scholarship Committee narrowed the candidates down to three special recipients.

Nicolas Turco is a graduate of St. Mary’s College and an Ontario Scholar. With his Scholarship of Distinction he plans to study arts and business at the University of Waterloo in the fall.

Olivia Christie hails from Korah Collegiate where she graduated as an Ontario Scholar and an International Baccalaureate diploma candidate. Olivia will attend the University of Western in the fall, applying her Scholarship of Distinction to her nursing studies.

Stephen Lajambe graduated from Central Algoma Secondary School as an Ontario Scholar. He received the Scholarship of Merit in support of his studies at Cambrian College in the electrical technician program.

Best wishes to Nicolas, Olivia and Stephen as they continue their studies! We look forward to following their progress.

For more information on the Scholarship of Excellence program click here.