United Steelworkers

In an article in yesterday's Business section, a reference to a audit conducted by the United Steelworkers of America international misidentified the local involved. It was was Local 2610.The Sun regrets the errors.Nearly a year after being taken over by its parent union, the largest local at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point mill is poised to break free with a new slate of officers and a bankroll of $130,000.But while officers of Local 2610 of the United Steelworkers of America say the period of control has left the local financially healthier and under a more unified leadership, some members complain that the handling of members' grievances has declined.

Genstar strikers get ultimatumStriking workers at Genstar Co. in Frederick are not budging in the face of an ultimatum by management to return to work by today or lose their jobs.Union representatives met for more than an hour Sunday afternoon and decided to continue the two-week strike."We think it's not in our best interest to return to work at this time," said Bernard Parrish, a representative for the United Steelworkers of America, which represents about 100 of the 1,000 employees at the plant.

Poly-Seal Corp., a Baltimore-based maker of plastic caps and container seals, yesterday began taking job applications for potential replacement workers as a strike against the company entered its fourth week. But Poly-Seal stopped short of saying it would actually replace the striking 380 workers."Right now we are accepting applications and interviewing, and then we will make a decision on what to do," said Robert N. Gillman, president and chief executive of Poly-Seal. "I'm keeping all my options open."

AMR Corp. loses $46 millionAmerican Airlines parent AMR Corp. said yesterday that it lost $46 million in February and expects to lose more money in the first quarter than many on Wall Street had expected.The company said its quarterly loss would be more than 24 cents a share, which would come to more than $18 million based on 76 million outstanding common shares.American, like other airlines, was hampered by a severe winter that closed airports.Airplane repair firm closedJJ&W Aircraft Services, an airplane repair firm employing about 100 workers, was closed yesterday by management of Topflight Airpark, north of Hagerstown.

The largest union at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point plant yesterday barred nine former officers from running for office for the next three to five years and ordered them to repay $161,292 they allegedly received through double-billing and inflated wages.A membership meeting of Local 2610 of the United Steelworkers of America last night voted to confirm the recommendation of a three-person union trial committee.Yesterday's vote stems from an internal union investigation that prompted the international offices of the United Steelworkers to seize control of the local last June and oust local President Walter Scott, Treasurer Walter Stankiwicz and other officials.

A FEW weeks ago a group of film-makers and producers came to Baltimore to make a movie, but the visit went unheralded and almost unnoticed.They weren't from Hollywood. They were from blue-collar Pittsburgh. And their subjects weren't privileged folk in Roland Park, but black steelworkers and their families in East Baltimore and Turner Station in Baltimore County."Struggles in Steel: A Visual History of African-American Steel Workers" is a documentary that will be aired on PBS in early 1994.

Negotiations between Bethlehem Steel Corp. and United Steelworkers of America continued beyond a midnight strike deadline, with the union agreeing to an hour-by-hour extension as long as talks continued."

Even though the picket signs were ready to go, union and management officials at Bethlehem Steel Corp. yesterday planned round-the-clock negotiations in the hope of reaching an agreement before a strike deadline of midnight tonight."

With only five days left before their labor contract expires, negotiators for the United Steelworkers of America have rejected a proposed six-year contract from Bethlehem Steel Corp."

The largest union local at the Sparrows Point steel mill has been taken over by its international parent organization, which is investigating possible financial improprieties.The president and treasurer of United Steelworkers of America Local 2610, which has about 2,300 members at the Bethlehem Steel Corp. mill, were temporarily relieved of their duties pending the completion of a union investigation."This is a sad day," said Harry Spedden, the Steelworkers union official who was appointed administrator of Local 2610.