USS American Owned?  American Controlled?

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The USW has not yet received a copy of the purported agreement between U.S. Steel (USS), Nippon and the U.S. government. However, we are disappointed that President Trump has reversed course, jeopardizing the future of American steelmaking by allowing the merger, now described as a “partnership,” of U.S. Steel and Nippon to go forward despite more than a year of the president speaking forcefully against it.

Nippon has a long history of violating U.S. trade laws, robbing steelworkers and their communities of tens of thousands of jobs. Trading away the future of a core domestic industry to a corporation with this track record unquestionably threatens our national and economic security.

From the beginning of this process Nippon has steadfastly refused to commit to the union that it would not transfer production from the Mon Valley or the other USS facilities to non-union facilities in Arkansas. It is left to be seen whether the president’s “golden share” and stated 51 percent control prevents Nippon from doing what has been clear it would do since December of 2023. Those that ignore the threat, do so at their own peril. The focus of the International union has always been about protecting the members’ job security and employment.

USS was once a respected corporate leader of the American steel industry. Yet the outgoing CEO and board of directors abandoned that leadership, not due to a lack of resources but rather because of a lack of commitment to the future fueled by unfettered greed.

Perhaps the historic “USS” logo will remain, but it seems it will be no more than a smoke screen to allow a wholly-owned privately held subsidiary of a Japanese corporation to be called “American.”

Details matter: Neither the government nor the companies have publicly identified what all the terms of the proposed transaction are. Last week, the publicly identified investments were claimed to be more than $14 billion. This week, that’s dropped to $11 billion. Where are the investments going to be made and can we really count on them? And, while there is a claimed “golden share,” what can we expect from Nippon’s leadership in Japan which continues to build up overcapacity in steel globally and has been charged again with dumping by the Department of Commerce just weeks ago?

Our labor agreement expires next year, on September 1, 2026, and the USW and its members are prepared to engage the new owners of USS to obtain a fair contract, one that maintains our existing facilities and recognizes the decades of contributions to the profitability of the company by USW members.

Rest assured, our union will fight every day to hold Nippon to the investment commitments it claimed were iron clad and to ensure that our members’ employment security, pensions, retiree insurance, and other benefits will remain untouched.

In solidarity,

Mike Millsap
District 7 Director & Chairman of the Negotiating Committee

David McCall
International President