SHARON, Pa. (AP) — About 1,600 former steelworkers or their surviving spouses are getting a tiny windfall — about $33 each —from a long-forgotten bank account belonging to a bankrupt western Pennsylvania steel company.
The Sharon Herald reports Thursday about $500,000 was found in the former Sharon Steel Co. account in 2009, but because the company was in bankruptcy protection, the court had to decide what to do with the money. Various parties claimed a piece of it, but under the bankruptcy code the found money was earmarked to cover administrative and attorneys' fees.
With lobbying from the United Steelworkers of America, the attorneys agreed to give up a slice of the money — about $54,000. That left the union to decide who would get it.
The union is splitting the money between retirees or their spouses who are owed pensions.
