Here’s why the United Steelworkers opposes Nippon’s takeover of US Steel

As president of the United Steelworkers, North America’s largest industrial union, I see this possibility embodied in the hard work and dedication of our members at US Steel. They work every day to support our nation’s infrastructure, strengthen national security, and keep us safe at home and abroad.

But instead of embracing that promise, US Steel last year unveiled plans to sell to Japanese-owned Nippon Steel, and it was immediately clear who would benefit: not the American people, not workers, but executives and shareholders. That’s it.

This proposed deal is not about chasing America’s promise, it’s about chasing a fast dollar. In fact, US Steel CEO David Burritt will block a $70 million payment if the deal is approved.

It is clear that the executives at Nippon and US Steel view the union members who actually create US Steel’s wealth as consumer pawns, just as corporate steelmakers did to workers during the 1980s recession, which wiped out thousands of jobs and almost destroyed the industry.

Back then, I volunteered at a union food bank, providing food to laid-off steel workers. We also contributed to the creation of retirement pension savings programs that companies abandoned during that period. I refuse to see USW members face such hardships again.

I lived those terrible days. Many of my union brothers still carry scars. And let me be clear: we will never go back.

It took decades of painstaking effort to rebuild America’s profitable steel industry, defeat the unfair trade practices of countries like China and Japan, and position domestic steelmaking as a key to US national security.

My union has spent just as much time rebuilding the middle class steel manufacturing workforce. Our contracts at US Steel, Cleveland-Cliffs and other companies require family-supporting wages, safe conditions, job security and innovative benefits like domestic violence leave. They also require the system-wide capital investments essential to ensure America’s steel industry remains competitive.

In recent months, US Steel and Nippon have made a lot of noise pitching their business and trying to confuse the public. But they never showed how a Japanese company’s acquisition of a key US steel producer could result in anything other than a country that is less prosperous and less secure.

They have never provided the enforceable, unconditional guarantees that are vital to protecting jobs, meeting pension obligations, maintaining robust production levels, or ensuring continued American access to steel made right here.

There is nothing to prevent Nippon from closing union plants and cutting union jobs in a few years while they build low-wage, non-union units in the south.

US Steel and Nippon continue to make promises that are not worth the paper they are written on, especially in light of US Steel’s history of losing workers, cutting jobs and abandoning commitments.

For example, when the USW and Cleveland-Cliffs fought together tooth and nail last year in a trade case designed to save the nation’s tin plants, US Steel refused to join us and at the same time stopped sheet metal installations.

US Steel promised several years ago to build a new headquarters in Pittsburgh and make major investments in the nearby Mon Valley Works. He broke both promises.

Instead of working with us to grow the industry, US Steel has fought us every step of the way. It destroyed the Great Lakes Works in Michigan and the Granite City Works in Illinois. It closed East Chicago Tin in Indiana, UPI’s operations in California, Lorain Tubular in Ohio and Lone Star Tubular in Texas.

So when US Steel CEO David Burritt declares how good the Nippon deal will be for workers, I won’t take his word for it.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris understand what’s at stake. USW members know they will continue to oppose the sale and we are calling on other elected officials at all levels of government to show they stand with us.

Unfortunately, US Steel refuses to give up while it’s behind. With the Nippon deal around the corner, despite all the money wasted promoting it, the company threatened to cut more jobs and move out of Pittsburgh if it didn’t work out.

This is an old style of union busting and corporate determination – hardly a game plan to take a vital industry to the next level.

US Steel can be a leader in harnessing the potential of American steel to build a better future for its workers and all of our communities. But that means partnering with union workers, not Nippon Steel.

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