A group of mayors, including Gary Mayor Eddie Melton, attempted to negotiate a deal between Nippon Steel and the United Steelworkers union this week.
Melton, Mayor Cletus Lee of North Braddock, Pennsylvania and Mayor Chris Kelly of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania organized a negotiation over the $14.9 billion deal.
“We thank the mayors of North Braddock, West Mifflin, Clairton, and Gary for their support and their efforts along with others to bring President McCall to the negotiating table this week and facilitate our discussion in order to reach an agreement that secures the future of U. S. Steel," Nippon Steel said in a statement. "Nippon Steel will continue to pursue an agreement with the USW and approval of this transaction, as it is in the best interests of employees, communities, and American national security.”
The mayors sat down with Nippon Steel and the USW on Wednesday. USW International President David McCall ended up breaking off the meetings, saying that Nippon Steel was not promising enough long-term commitment to the U.S. Steel's integrated mills and seemed poised to shift production to non-union mini-mills in the south.
"Over the course of this meeting, Nippon once again made it clear that it has no intention of meaningfully addressing the problems with the sale: It would not commit its parent company to be the party of the transaction or be signatory to our agreements. It refused to walk back its plans to move production to Big River, and it would not agree to remove its exceptions to its so-called promises," McCall and USW District 7 Director Mike Millsap said in a statement. "There was, however, one point of agreement: Nippon was ultimately willing to concede that the $1 billion it’s claimed to have allocated for a new hot strip mill in the Mon Valley is only half the actual cost, once again throwing into question its true commitment to the long-term success of our facilities."
The mayors of the mill towns expressed disappointment and called on union members to reject the position of leadership.
"USW leadership is putting jobs at risk with its actions, plain and simple," the mayors said in a joint statement. "During the course of our discussions with Nippon Steel, we urged the company to come to the table with an agreement that addressed each of the concerns that USW leadership raised with us. Nippon Steel delivered, but USW leaders refused to engage in good faith. When we asked what they proposed instead, President McCall said, 'let’s see what happens.' We are extremely disappointed as this is not the time to be a spectator."
The union expressed concerns with what Nippon Steel's ownership of U.S. Steel would mean for communities like Gary and North Braddock in the long term, cautioning that disinvestment could bring hard times.
"Nippon also clearly communicated how impressed it is with Big River and reiterated its interest in following the U.S. Steel business model. But this model, which includes transferring production over the years from our facilities to Big River, obviously hurts USW members and undercuts our long-term job security. Reducing our nation’s melt capacity by transferring production will also weaken our national security and the critical supply chains that depend on the steel we produce," McCall and Millsap said in a statement. "It became obvious over the course of the meeting that Nippon intends to spend some money in the communities surrounding our facilities if the sale happens, such as funding the construction of community centers. But it would not commit to keeping production in our current facilities. And without our facilities and the good, family-supporting jobs they sustain, our communities will ultimately suffer."
© Copyright 2024, nwitimes.com, Munster, IN