Gerdau Ameristeel Corp.'s top executive has questioned the corporate loyalty of American workers and said labor organizations need to get a new model for dealing with employers.

Phillip E. Casey, president and chief executive officer, told more than 80 people at the annual dinner of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries that in certain ways workers in Third World nations have a "greater respect for work ethics than we do."

"I think to our misfortune our government, with their workers' compensation programs, with all their protected classes, with all of the lawsuits that are out there, it is much more difficult to manage the American worker today," Casey said. "They're less loyal to the company. So you have to be able to deal with that compared to countries like Brazil. Japan and South Korea, for example. In those countries it's a lifelong commitment to a company. So to some respect we're losing the competitive advantage we used to have in American work ethics."

Casey, who last year earned total compensation of $985,033, including bonuses of $458,340, said such benefits as health-care coverage, paid vacation and pensions are a burden to companies trying to compete in a global economy.

"All of those benefits are a burden you're competing against in countries that do not share that type of an overhead burden," he said. "So how do you compete when you're carrying a 22-percent burden overhead in terms of medical benefits, workers compensation, retirement, environmental-all of the other things mandated by the government hi our market. If you're going to compete in a global market, your competition is not saddled with those types of mandates."

Casey's comments last week came just hours before the company locked out approximately 265 workers at its Beaumont, Texas, wire rod mill after months of negotiations failed to produce a new contract.

Casey said that labor organizations need to develop a new business model because the old one isn't working.

"The old model of fighting management is just diverting energy that should be directed at competing against your competition and competing with imports," he said. "A labor contract is not going to protect anything. When 40 percent of the

industry went bankrupt, I think all but three of those 35 companies were union. The union has to determine what product they are going to bring to the table."

A United Steelworkers spokesman said he was astounded by Casey's remarks.

"His comments just show an incredible lack of knowledge about American workers and the global economy," the spokesman said. "He wants workers to have a lifetime commitment to the company, but no commitment to the workers. hi the steel industry, workers have been incredibly loyal to their employers-and watched plants shut down and their jobs eliminated."

The USW spokesman said Casey missed the fact that global steel competitors provide health care, pensions and vacation to their workers. "I'm not sure what he's thinking," the spokesman said. "It's astounding that benefits are a burden. What does he want workers to do: sit on a corner with a cup and beg for them?"