Celebration for long-serving Strip Mill, Dispatch and Tin Mill employees

Early last Friday evening, October 8th, the Ferrocentrum Social Club was the venue for the second in a series of meetings of long-serving employees with USSK top management representatives. This time it was the turn of workers from the Cold and Hot Strip Mills, Tin Mill and Dispatch divisions who have completed 30, 35 and 40 years of employment with the Company, and have thus made an indelible impression on the pages of its history.
The special guests who came to congratulate them included U. S. Steel Kosice President Christopher Navetta, Vice-president Operations Scott Pape, Vice-president Human Resources Miroslav Kiralvarga and Vice-president Personnel and Organization Martin Pitorak. The best part of 150 celebrators were addressed by Christopher Navetta, who thanked them personally and on behalf of all the Company management for their work and dedication to the firm. He also devoted words of recognition to the celebrators' spouses: "The support of your nearest and dearest is the key to the success you have achieved. All of you can be proud of these results," he said.

Another step towards completion of the ice stadium

Last Friday, October 8th 2004, saw the termination of the notarial deposit of funds which are to be transferred to the Kosice Arena account for financing the completion of the new Kosice ice stadium. Representatives of the particular business entities providing these funds met on U. S. Steel Kosice premises under the supervision of notary public M. Drgonova to confirm the accomplishment of this stage in the plan for completion of the new ice stadium. Collection of the first financial and non-financial resources in the notarial deposit account began on February 11th this year, when U. S. Steel Kosice in cooperation with ice-hockey club HC Kosice appealed to and invited business entities and ice-hockey enthusiasts to a "Sponsors' Evening", where they were presented with possibilities of sharing in the project for completion of the ice stadium.
All the financial resources provided were secured by notarial deposit, so that if the planned completion deadline were not met, the funds could all be returned to the individual donors. As at October 8th the notarial deposit account had accumulated 80 431 597 SKK from the business entities involved. Then, on the basis of SR Government resolution no.833 dated August 25th 2004, the SR Ministry of Finance approved and subsequently transferred to the Kosice Arena account a subsidy to the value of 250 million SKK which is purpose-bound to the completion of the new ice-stadium in Kosice.
A further sum of 30 million SKK is also expected from the City of Kosice. Given this total expected amount of funds, which exceeds 360 million SKK, it is now possible to commence building work. "This has been a long period of hard work and waiting to see if it pays off. Today we can say that through our combined efforts we have succeeded. The conditions of the notarial deposit have been fulfilled. The required funds are now in the Kosice Arena account, and the building work can begin. My personal wish is that the stadium could be open for ice-hockey and other events by the middle of 2006," said Christopher J. Navetta, President of U. S. Steel Kosice.

Kosice welcomes European journalists

The Slovan Hotel in Kosice was the venue last weekend for the 42nd Congress of the Association of European Journalists. U. S. Steel Kosice was one of the sponsors of this event. The event also featured a panel discussion during which M. Vasecka from the Institute for Public Issues spoke on the topic of Romany employment.
"One of U. S. Steel's most positive features is the fact that it operates and invests here at all. Many foreign investors refuse to come to Slovakia because of the Romany issue," he stated. He went on to say that he had been following U. S. Steel Kosice activities for several years, and that "some of them are unique for Slovakia". According to Vasecka, the handling of this issue is above all a local government responsibility. They must set up projects, and this is where the Company's assistance is unique. "What I appreciate about U. S. Steel Kosice is that it has given an opportunity to Romanies from the neighborhoods," Vasecka went on. "The point is that most of these people are unemployable, they're not capable of finding work for themselves, and they depend on getting opportunities from firms like this," said the well-known politologist.

Steel Strip Society seminar

The Steel Strip Society and U. S. Steel Kosice are organizing a working seminar at Jahodna near Kosice on October 18th-20th 2004 entitled Rolling Strips from Vacuum-Degassed Steels. The seminar is to have two parts, the first consisting of a plenary session of the Steel Strip Society which will deal with preparation of the 7th international conference Steel Strips 2006, and the second half will be taken up with the specialist part.
At the end of the meeting the participants will be coming to U. S. Steel Kosice. According to information from one of the seminar organizers, Mirko Kral from the Metallurgy Institute at USSK's Hot Strip Mill, our specialists intend to exchange insights with the other participants regarding developments in vacuum-degassed steels and the production and achievement of surface quality of steel strips.