Click here to download this update as a PDF.
Brothers and Sisters,
Nippon Steel today employed a classic union-busting tactic in a final, desperate attempt to win over support for its doomed acquisition of U.S. Steel: simple bribery.
We have seen this sort of corporate behavior before, and we know what it really means. Nippon is begging union members to trade our long-term stability and bargaining power in exchange for a single payment.
But we won’t be fooled.
This offer ultimately does nothing to change the stakes of the deal, the lasting damage it could do to our domestic steel industry or the grave implications for our national and economic security.
Our union’s concern with the proposed U.S. Steel-Nippon deal is how badly it would undermine the viability of the domestic steel industry, not just now but well into the future.
President Biden understands the stakes, and he promised to have workers’ backs. Now, it’s time for him to formally block the deal so we can start working on securing our industry for the long-term.
Nippon proved it will stop at nothing. It’s thrown everything it has at advancing this transaction, demonstrating increasing levels of desperation. We should be asking why. Is it to eliminate a U.S. competitor? To subvert our trade system from within? To shift the nature of the global steel market?
We need to keep asking these questions. We need to keep holding Nippon accountable for the damage it’s already done through its unfair trade practices. And we need to see this offer for what it is: an empty gesture meant to distract us from the threat this transaction poses to our jobs, our industry and our national security.
In solidarity,
Mike Millsap
District 7 Director & Chairman of the Negotiating Committee
David McCall
International President