Kaiser Workers’ Widows In Limbo Were Not Aware Premiums Due On Life Insurance

Donald Norton just wanted to work.

After 45 years at Kaiser Aluminum Corp.’s Mead plant, the Korean War-era Marine still looked forward to nursing the company trucks used to haul molten aluminum to Trentwood.

His wife, Frances, said he winced when he saw those rigs wheel by after the United Steelworkers went on strike Sept. 30.

“They’re not maintaining my trucks,” he would say, noting telltale signs that less-experienced observers might miss.

Frances Norton said the strike, which became a lockout Jan. 14, created a new kind of stress for a man who would respond in the middle of the night to a call for help from the smelter.

For distraction, he worked on his beloved 1929 Model A. Toward the end of February, he bought an old gas-powered Maytag washer to restore.

Although the couple was spending $280 a month to pick up medical insurance cut off by the company when the strike began, she said Norton missed his regular checkups with the doctor. The 68-year-old had undergone a heart-bypass operation in 1982, but had been in good health since, she said.

He took his regular four-hour shift Feb. 25, and picket captain Larry Strom said Norton’s spirits appeared to be good.

The following day, a Friday, he had been tinkering on the Maytag when he came into the house from the garage complaining of chest pains.

After an angioplasty to increase blood flow, doctors said Donald Norton’s prospects for recovery from the heart attack were good.

That was Saturday. He died Sunday.

His death, and those of a handful of other active Steelworkers, have left their widows in limbo. As of Oct. 1, union members were responsible for picking up the premiums for their health benefits and life insurance.

While the Nortons made the health insurance payments, Frances said they were not made aware premiums were also due on his $30,000 company life insurance policy.

Strom, who is also vice president of Steelworkers Local 329, said the union had not instructed workers to continue making life insurance payments.

“I think it’s horrible these guys have fallen through the cracks,” he said. “It’s kind of a fluke that they pass on during this time period.”

Kaiser, which declined comment for this story, has not paid off on the policy.

Strom said settlement of the life insurance claims is among the issues negotiators will discuss this week in Denver.

Frances Norton is not optimistic.

“I don’t know that we’ll ever get it,” she said.

Donna Black is slightly more fortunate.

She was able to negotiate the retirement of her desperately ill husband, Edward, as of Dec. 31. He died the next day, but Black was able to collect the $4,500 life insurance payment due retirees.

Making those arrangements while communications between the union and company were strained was not easy, she said.

Frances Norton said Kaiser’s failure to honor the life insurance policy is an affront to a man who never shirked his duty - to the Marines (he survived the horrific battle of Chosin Reservoir) or to the company.

“This is so disrespectful of Don,” she said. “He wouldn’t think of doing half a job.”

She said her husband thought the Kaiser strike was untimely.

Both sides should have been more willing to talk, he said, and the thought that the plant itself was probably suffering from lack of regular maintenance bothered him.

But, his widow said, “He would never cross the line.”

If he had misgivings about the strike, however, Frances Norton said the benefits squabbles would anger him.

“If they have to tell me `no,’ I want (Chairman George) Haymaker and (President Ray) Milchovich to look me in the eye and tell me `no,”’ she said. “I backed him for 45 years and I don’t need this.”

Frances Norton said news in February that Kaiser replacement workers would be getting benefits added to her hurt.

“That kind of twists the knife a little bit,” she said.

She said she is getting Donald’s pension, which amounts to $1,300 per month. One reason he held on through the strike, instead of retiring, was the hope that sum would be bumped up somewhat if the union and company reached a contract settlement.

But that alone did not keep him hanging on as the work stoppage dragged on, she said.

“He wanted to go back in with his crew one more time,” she said.