Chairman of parliament at USSK

On Monday, February 7th, the Chairman of the Slovak National Council Pavol Hrusovsky visited U. S. Steel Kosice. He met U. S. Steel Kosice President Christopher J. Navetta, the Vice-presidents and other Company representatives, who informed him of the successful achievement of last year's targets and the Company's strategy for the future.

CLA Amendment 2005 signed at USSK

On Monday, February 7th 2005, representatives of U. S. Steel Kosice and the trades union organizations active in the Company signed Amendment No.1 to the U. S. Steel Kosice Collective Labor Agreement covering years 2004 - 2007. The legal validity of the Amendment was confirmed with the signatures of U. S. Steel Kosice President Christopher Navetta, METALURG Trades Union Council Chairman Mikulas Dula, who also signed the Amendment by proxy empowerment on behalf of the KOVO Trades Union Organization at U. S. Steel Kosice, and Milan Beregszaszi, Chairman of the Independent Christian Trades Union Organization at USSK.
"This agreement is fair, responsible and acceptable for employees and company alike," was the description of the document's contents by the President of U. S. Steel Kosice.

Team-work produces results

High-quality performance was recorded in the costs-saving field last year by the ceramics-makers at USSK subsidiary Refrako, s.r.o.. They managed to increase the average working-life of the pouring ladles in USSK Steel Plants 1 and 2 by some 30 per cent. They were able to achieve this increase thanks to new types of refractory material developed in close cooperation with prominent specialists from UEC Technologies and the USS Research and Technology Center.
Understandably an important part in this was also played by their excellent cooperation with the USSK steel-makers, whose support during the testing of the new refractory materials was truly remarkable. In the words of Refrako General Manager Gabriel Torhany, the benefit of the new special type of durable ladle lining also lies in the increased safety of operation of all 88 ladles in which it was applied. Together with UEC Technologies they are working on the development of new materials for lining ladle sides and slag courses, the use of which is expected to ensure cost reductions of a further ten per cent.

Second part of Winter Olympiad to take place on Saturday

For the third time now in the history of our Winter Olympiad, its cross-country skiing events are to take place up the Hnilec Valley, namely this Saturday, February 12th. The 3, 4 and 5-kilometer courses will see races for men and women skiers in under-40, under-50 and over-50 age categories, starting progressively from 10 am.
The Hnilec Valley courses are not demanding, with a height difference of just ten meters, so they should be manageable for all our recreational cross-country skiers just as in previous years. The grand opening ceremony for this part of the Winter Olympiad at the starting-point in Hnilec village will be at 9.30 am, involving all the traditional honors, namely hoisting the flags and lighting the Olympic flame. Tuesday of next week, February 15th, sees the conclusion of this Olympiad's ice-hockey tournament for the U. S. Steel Kosice Championship. First of all at 6.30 pm there is the match for 3rd place between the Secondary Metallurgy and Cold Strip Mill division teams, and then at 8.15 pm the reigning champions from the Blast Furnaces take on the Management team in the final.
The closing week of this 9th edition of our annual Winter Olympiad culminates with its third part at Jahodna ("Strawberry Hill") on Saturday, February 19th, with snowboarding competitions followed by the giant slalom events. As a prolog to these events there will be skiing races for the youngest skiers in the Pupils and Juniors categories, making up the 7th edition of the Jan Tichy Memorial competition and starting at 8 am on Saturday up at Jahodna.