HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2005--General
Cable Corporation (NYSE:BGC) announced today that Local Union No. 4543
of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) at its Lincoln, Rhode
Island plant is on strike. The Company's four-year contract with the
union expired at 11:59 PM on Saturday, March 12, 2005, and was
extended for one week as the parties worked toward a new agreement.
While significant progress was made by both parties in arriving at a
new mutually acceptable agreement, union workers voted by a narrow
margin on Sunday, March 20th not to approve the new agreement. As a
result, the union commenced a strike at the facility effective Monday,
March 21st. Both parties are continuing to work together to reach a
new contract.
The Local Union No. 4543 represents 180 production and maintenance
workers at the Lincoln, Rhode Island plant, where the Company
manufactures industrial and specialty cables. General Cable has
sufficient inventory to meet customer requirements during the
anticipated period of negotiations with the union as well as
alternative manufacturing facilities in the event of an extended
stoppage. The Company does not expect that the strike will have a
significant impact on its financial results for the first quarter of
2005.
General Cable (NYSE:BGC), headquartered in Highland Heights,
Kentucky, is a leader in the development, design, manufacture,
marketing and distribution of copper, aluminum and fiber optic wire
and cable products for the energy, industrial, specialty and
communications markets. Visit our website at www.GeneralCable.com.
Certain statements in this press release, including without
limitation, statements regarding future financial results and
performance, plans and objectives, capital expenditures and the
Company's or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions, are
forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from
those statements as a result of factors, risks and uncertainties over
which the Company has no control. Such factors include economic and
political consequences resulting from the September 2001 terrorist
attack and the war with Iraq, domestic and local country price
competition, particularly in certain segments of the power cable
market and other competitive pressures; general economic conditions,
particularly in construction; changes in customer or distributor
purchasing patterns in our business segments; the Company's ability to
increase manufacturing capacity and productivity; the financial impact
of any future plant closures; the Company's ability to successfully
complete and integrate acquisitions and divestitures; the Company's
ability to negotiate extensions of labor agreements on acceptable
terms; the Company's ability to service debt requirements and maintain
adequate domestic and international credit facilities and credit
lines; the Company's ability to pay dividends on its preferred stock;
the impact of unexpected future judgments or settlements of claims and
litigation; the Company's ability to achieve target returns on
investments in its defined benefit plans; the Company's ability to
avoid limitations on utilization of net losses for income tax
purposes; the cost of raw materials, including copper and aluminum;
the Company's ability to increase its selling prices during periods of
increasing raw material costs; the impact of foreign currency
fluctuations; the impact of technological changes; and other factors
which are discussed in the Company's Report on Form 10-K filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2004, as well as
periodic reports filed with the Commission.
CONTACT: General Cable Corporation
Paul M. Montgomery, 859-572-8684 (Investor Relations)
SOURCE: General Cable Corporation
