Posts tagged Nippon Steel
Op-Eds Union bosses almost blew the $2.5 billion Nippon deal. Don’t let them sabotage the next contract
August 13, 2026 // In 2025, USW held two significant strikes. One that put nearly 2,000 represented employees out of work for eight months, and another that forced 650 people out of work for five months. The strike likely cost these workers tens of millions collectively in lost wages. It also reported 615 employees earning more than $75,000, with an average total compensation of $107,476. The union paid its own staff more than 10 times what it paid in strike benefits. The terms were strong, as Nippon’s offer included $2.7 billion in capital investment earmarked specifically for USW facilities.
She never worked in a steel mill. Now she leads the United Steelworkers.
July 31, 2026 // “She’s going to have to get the trust of the steelworkers,” said Richard Tikey, a union local vice president at the coking coal plant for U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works south of Pittsburgh. He said the union should have pushed for additional benefits or a new contract during the sale process. “The union had more leverage then,” Tikey said. U.S. Steel’s initial proposal included an 18.2% pay increase over five years and a $4,000 contract bonus, but would implement employee copays for health insurance. Union negotiators said this was insufficient. They will counter in August.
Trump administration offers some details of how it would control US Steel, but union raises concerns
June 16, 2025 // The union said it was “disappointed” that Trump “has reversed course” and raised basic questions about the ownership structure of U.S. Steel. “Neither the government nor the companies have publicly identified what all the terms of the proposed transaction are,” the letter said. “Our labor agreement expires next year, on September 1, 2026, and the USW and its members are prepared to engage the new owners" of U.S. Steel "to obtain a fair contract.” If Trump has as much control of U.S. Steel as he has claimed, that could put him in the delicate position of negotiating the salary and benefits of unionized steelworkers going into midterm elections.
Trump hails US Steel-Nippon deal, says steelmaker will be ‘controlled by the USA’ — but offers few details
June 1, 2025 // "I have to approve the final deal with Nippon and we haven't seen that final deal yet," Trump told reporters on the tarmac following the Pittsburgh event. "But they've made a very big commitment, and it's a very big investment." In his remarks at the rally, the president said U.S. Steel will maintain all of its current operating blast furnaces at full capacity for a minimum of 10 years.
US Steelworkers union urges Trump to block Nippon Steel’s bid for U.S. Steel
May 26, 2025 // In a statement published a day after a powerful national security panel submitted a fresh recommendation on the deal to Trump, the union accused Nippon Steel of dumping steel on American markets for decades and argued its merger bid poses a threat to U.S. national security.
US Steel Launches ‘Longshot’ Attack on Union in Merger Fallout
January 16, 2025 // While a union’s support or opposition doesn’t guarantee an outcome, it can be used to extract concessions or secure agreements from merging employers, Posner said.
Opinion: How Biden betrayed union workers by giving them what they wanted
January 7, 2025 // This would hurt the blue-collar American workers whom Biden prioritizes, many of whom wanted the deal to go through. But what’s good for rank-and-file members and what ego-sensitive union leaders want are not always aligned. United Steelworkers leaders were apparently peeved that Nippon had not sought the union’s blessing before making a takeover bid, as other prospective buyers had. (Those other suitors, however, had not offered nearly as generous terms and, in at least one case, blocked U.S. Steel from conducting due diligence on the offer.)
US Steel Boss: Biden’s Block of Sale Shameful, Corrupt
January 5, 2025 // Pres. Trump Sees China as #1 Threat, See More Here Home | Newsfront Tags: bien | steel | sale | corruption US Steel Boss: Biden's Block of Sale Shameful, Corrupt By Michael Katz | Friday, 03 January 2025 07:51 PM EST facebook sharing buttontwitter sharing buttonlinkedin sharing button Comment|Print| A A David Burritt, the president and CEO of U.S. Steel, said Friday that President Joe Biden’s decision to block the company’s sale to a Japanese rival was “shameful” and “corrupt.” Biden’s long-awaited decision on the deal came in a presidential order posted Friday on the White House website, declaring Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion bid for the U.S. steelmaker “prohibited.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Biden was acting on a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States that the acquisition “would place one of America’s largest steel producers under foreign control and create a risk for our national security and our critical supply chains.” “President Biden’s action today is shameful and corrupt,” Burritt said in a news release. “He gave a political payback to a union boss out of touch with his members while harming our company’s future, our workers, and our national security.”
Steelworkers Union Applauds as Biden Blocks Sale of US Steel to Japanese Giant
January 4, 2025 // The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal committee that has the power to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States to evaluate a deal's impact on national security, decided to forgo making a formal recommendation about whether the deal should be allowed to proceed last week. The proposal also became ensnared in election year politics, with both presidential candidates saying that U.S. Steel should remain a domestically-owned firm. Rust Belt lawmakers in both parties, including Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)—both of whom lost re-election in November—and Vice President-elect JD Vance, an Ohio Republican, expressed opposition to the deal.
Hundreds of U.S. Steel workers rally in Clairton in support of Nippon deal
December 14, 2024 // Some speakers took aim at United Steelworkers union leaders, who have maintained opposition to the deal. USW president Dave McCall has continued to say that there aren’t enough guarantees in writing for the company’s union workers. Kurt Barshick, the vice president of U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, said that the hundreds of workers who showed up for the rally were the true voices of the company’s union workers, and that they favored the deal. He suggested that union leadership was overly focused on a separate, less generous acquisition offer made by Cleveland Cliffs Steel.