A judge denied a United Steelworkers request.

The union said a bankruptcy judge rejected its request that the judge order Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel to pay medical benefits this month for employees involved in a work stoppage. The union’s contract, recently dissolved with court approval, required the steelmaker to pay insurance premiums for the first month of any strike. But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Warren W. Bentz, who authorized the company to reject the contract, refused to hold Wheeling-Pittsburgh to that term in the pact.