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Nippon Steel has always been upfront about its intentions to prioritize production in Arkansas at the expense of our facilities should it acquire U.S. Steel (USS).
Nippon Steel representative Takahiro Mori, on December 18, 2023, publicly stated that Nippon would follow the USS plan and eventually transfer current production from USW-represented worksites to Big River. Over the course of the past 11 months, Nippon management has not deviated from that plan.
What we have seen is USS and Nippon spending millions of dollars to circulate half-truths and, in some cases, complete fiction, targeting our members, the general public and local, state and federal officials in an attempt to seek approval of an ill-conceived acquisition.
We know that many of you are being personally inundated by Nippon’s lobbying efforts. We are even getting reports that Mori and the rest of Nippon management are getting so desperate that they’re willing to violate the law and attempt to negotiate directly with USW members.
Let’s be clear about Mori’s true intentions: He wants to turn us against each other. He wants to break our solidarity because, like USS CEO David Burritt and other top management, he understands the strength we wield when we’re united. His goal – his only goal – is to close the transaction, not preserve our industry or our jobs.
Same questions remain
Nippon is further circulating lies, saying that the International refuses to meet with its management. This is untrue.
But what is true is that we are still left with the same unanswered questions we’ve had all along: What are the details regarding capital investments, including enforcement? Do these promises cover blast furnace and coke facilities, or will they be solely directed at finishing? How will the transfer of technology function, and will it negatively impact profit sharing or our upstream restrictions?
And, perhaps most importantly, should the deal close, what is to stop Nippon from using our facilities to exploit our market and offload Japanese overcapacity?
We need to be ready. We need to ask the tough questions and not be blinded by empty promises from a company whose strategy has always been to centralize its six (6) million tons of non-union U.S. steelmaking production in Arkansas. We must stop Nippon from harvesting USW represented facilities and then abandoning our blast furnace and coke making facilities in order to import Japanese slabs.
We have options
The proposed USS-Nippon deal remains dangerous for our members and for the country. Nothing has changed.
If we’re serious about our national and economic security, we must protect the viability and sustainability of raw materials and the melting, pouring and finishing of steel in our facilities.
Fortunately, we have options. USS is a financially strong company with over $4 billion in liquidity. Our facilities are indeed “world class,” and Burritt’s threats that he’ll have to shut down some facilities is the typical reaction of a bully who always demands to get his way.
If we stand strong, Burritt won’t get his way here. Rather than knuckling under out of fear, we need to focus on the future of our workplaces and how we sustain a vibrant domestic steel industry well into the future.
Both President Biden and President Trump have stated unequivocally that they oppose the deal. Both of them understand the critical nature of our industry and what we need to do to protect it.
It’s time for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the president to reject a deal that’s bad for workers and bad for America.
Mike Millsap
District 7 Director & Chairman of the Negotiating Committee
David McCall
International President