Seniors visit the steelworks

Even after years of retirement from Company employment, they are still very interested in what is happening here. This means senior citizens who are former employees of the steelworks. This Monday, December 2, they had the chance to come to the Company and get information from the horse's mouth, as they say. This opportunity to meet U. S. Steel Kosice President George F. Babcoke and the other Vice Presidents was taken up by more than 120 members of the "Autumn of Life" Civic Association, although a lot more of them would have come if space had allowed. With great interest they listened to the news from the "steelmakers' kitchen", they watched the latest film about U. S. Steel Kosice, and they asked a large number of curious questions. The President of the "Autumn of Life" Civic Association expressed her appreciation of the Company's interest in its former employees, and emphasized the support which the seniors get from USSK.

Milan Belicak is General Secretary of ECCA national group

The latest trends in utilization of coated materials in the construction industry were the topic of discussions on November 18 and 19 by participants in a conference in Brussels, Belgium organized by the European Association of Coated Sheet Producers (ECCA), the theme of which was reflected in the motto "Energy efficiency of buildings - our primary aim". In his opening address, Association President Julius Lang, who holds the position of General Manager Industry Sales at U. S. Steel Kosice, assessed the Association's activity during 2013 and pointed out its successes. The conference participants also approved the formation of an ECCA national group for Central Europe, of which USSK, Arcelor Mittal, Beckers and MT Comax became the founding members. Milan Belicak, sales manager at USSK, was then elected General Secretary of this national group.
The ECCA national group for Central Europe will be responsible for activities in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Its principal task will be to spread information among students regarding the utilization of coated materials, and cooperation with architects and designers in various industrial branches is also expected.

Kosice team is second-best in Europe

Just one dollar and forty-one cents separated the team from U. S. Steel Kosice, composed of Martin Kristinak (Cokery Division) and Róbert Hegedüs (Blast Furnaces Division), from victory in the world-wide, 24-hour competition named the Virtual Steelmaking Challenge, the eighth annual edition of which took place towards the end of last month. They took part in the competition together with other Kosice employees: steelmakers Marcel Pika and Ladislav Karaffa, blast furnace staff Peter Oleksak, Peter Pentrak and Patrik Farkas, and quality supervisor David Bogdan, and among the Europeans they got on very well indeed. This is confirmed by the results published on www.steeluniversity.org, according to which we are doubly represented among the ten best teams of the Old World. As already mentioned, second place was taken by Martin Kristinak and Róbert Hegedüs, while Marcel Pika and Ladislav Karaffa achieved eighth place in a very strong field.
This year more than two thousand young people joined in the virtual competition, representing industrial companies and technically-oriented colleges in more than forty countries in the world. Our colleagues in U. S. Steel, Jaclyn Howe and Alyssa Briere from the Canadian operation, were also successful in the North America category, taking first place, and another four two-member teams from the Corporation appear among the Top Ten.

Loyal to the company for decades

Friday, November 22, saw the fourth and last of this year's gala evenings for long-term employees of the Kosice steelmaking company. Top managers together with labor union leaders acknowledged and thanked the employees who have worked 30, 35, 40, and some even a very respectable 45 years for the Company. Meeting at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel this time were celebrators from the Company Management section. The employees' long-term work and years spent with the Company were acknowledged by U. S. Steel Kosice President George F. Babcoke, Vice Presidents, General Managers and Directors of the relevant sections, as well as KOVO U. S. Steel Kosice Labor Union Council Chairman Mikulas Hintos and other union officials. At this meeting awards were presented to 140 steelmakers, who came to celebrate their working successes together with their spouses and family members.

Wishing Tree gifts delight children in the Podolinec Foster Home

The gifts from the Wishing Tree have already found their recipients. To be more precise, part of the gifts - those dreamed up by the children of the St.Clement Hofbauer Foster Home at Podolinec. The generous packages from the steelmakers made their way more than a hundred kilometers to the north of Slovakia last Wednesday, November 27. Patronage of this project has been taken up once again by U. S. Steel Kosice President's wife Kathleen Babcoke, and she and the wives of the Company Vice Presidents, together of course with the employees, are helping to fulfill the children's dreams for them.