LTV Steel employee: I was forced to retire because of disability

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) – A video posted on YouTube appears to show a distraught LTV Steel employee who "was forced to retire because of a disability" and couldn't afford to pay for his wife's health care after the company filed for bankruptcy.

>>watch the video here

The video is dated August 8, 2007.  The man, identified as Steve Skvara, addresses the Democratic candidates during the national primary.

The man becomes emotional and says, "after 34 years with LTV Steel, I was forced to retire because of a disability. Two years later, LTV filed bankruptcy. I lost a third of my pension, and my family lost their health care. Every day of my life I sit across the kitchen table, across from the woman who devoted 36 years of my life to her family, and I can't afford to pay for her health care. What's wrong with America, and what will you do to change it?"

Tuesday Senator Scott Brown blasted Elizabeth Warren for her work representing LTV Steel. While outside South Station in Boston, Brown told Fox 25 "Listen, she's a hired gun to work for the large corporations. That completely is contrary to her message of fighting for the little guys, you know the small business people and for the victims."

Warren's campaign tells FOX 25 that she did not work on the LTV bankruptcy.  The campaign also pointed out Warren became involved in a separate Supreme Court case to protect the ability of workers, retirees, victims, and others to recover from bankrupt companies.

A Boston Herald report revealed Warren was paid $10,000 to represent LTV Steel in 1995, when she was a Harvard Law professor. It says Warren was one of two LTV lawyers who wrote a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the appellate court decision siding with the coal miners.

"When no one was looking, when you guys weren't covering her, she made a choice.  She chose to side with the large corporations and the big businesses to potentially deny the LTV Steel and actually deny with the aesbestos case, so I think those actions speak for themselves adn they're completely contrary to her message," said Brown.

Warren's press secretary, Alethea Harney, has released a statement, reading:

"Elizabeth is a bankruptcy expert and has fought for years for a strong bankruptcy system that makes sure retirees, employees, victims, and others can demand payment from insolvent companies and get a fair shake. In the LTV steel case, there was never any question that coal miners and their surviving spouses would receive their full benefits under the Coal Act. This case involved bankruptcy principles and who would pay, what into the fund. Once again, Scott Brown is attacking Elizabeth Warren to avoid explaining his record, including votes to give tax breaks to Big Oil, billionaires, and Wall Street."

Cox Media Group