Workers Say World Trade Steel Supplier’s Survival on the Line

Associated Press

Steel from Wheeling Corrugated has been used to rebuild the World Trade Center site.

Employees of a West Virginia steel company whose products have been used in such feats of engineering as the Hoover Dam and the rebuilding of Ground Zero are asking a judge to make sure their company isn’t overlooked in the bankruptcy case of its owner.

Employees of Wheeling Corrugating, driven by a concern that “we may not be properly represented” in the Chapter 11 case of owner RG Steel LLC, last week sent a letter to Judge Kevin J. Carey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., which is overseeing the case.

“It will be easy for the banks and creditors to overlook our small company given the magnitude of these bankruptcy proceedings,” the employees wrote in the letter, dated last Wednesday. “We implore you, in your position of trust and fairness, to do what is right to help this proud, strong, and very viable company survive.”

Wheeling Corrugating is among the plants that RG Steel is expected to sell at auction per the instructions of the company’s lenders. The employees say they’re concerned that after successfully battling through “five ownership changes, several union strikes, and now three bankruptcies,” RG Steel’s Chapter 11 case could mark the end of the road.

“It will be tempting to the banks and creditors to sell off assets and inventory, but that would be a losing proposition,” the employees wrote. “We carry on our shoulders a 122-year legacy. Please help us preserve this American success story.”

Wheeling Corrugating employees, 39 of whom signed the letter, say they hope that rather than a dismantling of their company and a sale of the pieces, the company would be sold as a still-operating entity. The employees pointed to news reports that former owner Esmark was interested in making such a bid.

“We would be supportive of this bid, or frankly any bid that would keep this that would keep this company whole,” they wrote.

RG Steel’s spokeswoman couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday, nor could a Wheeling Corrugating employee.

Based in Wheeling, W.V., Wheeling Corrugating is among the assets RG Steel wants to put on the auction block this summer, subject to bankruptcy-court approval. RG Steel’s lenders are requiring the sale of the Wheeling Corrugating unit and RG Steel’s main plants in three states under the terms of the financing they’ve provided for the otherwise cash-crunched RG Steel.

According to the employees, their “small” company’s role in supplying steel to “your favorite ballpark or stadium,” schools, hospitals and high-rise buildings—including more than seven million square feet of steel decking for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site—makes it “part of the fabric of the nation.”