The United Steelworkers (USW) today issued a statement responding to the announced deal in which Japan's Nippon Steel will purchase US Steel.
The union said that neither US Steel nor Nippon reached out to communicate regarding the deal, which the union says is a violation of its partnership agreement that requires US Steel to notify the union of a change in control or business conditions.
USW International President David McCall said, “Based on this alone, the USW does not believe that Nippon understands the full breadth of the obligations of all our agreements and we do not know whether it has the capacity to live up to our existing contract.”
The union said it is strongly urging the US government to “carefully scrutinize” the acquisition and determine if the proposed transaction serves the national security interests of the United States and benefits workers.”
In the statement, McCall said, “To say we're disappointed in the announced deal between US Steel and Nippon is an understatement, as it demonstrates the same greedy, shortsighted attitude that has guided US Steel for far too long.”
The union said it plans to hold management at US Steel accountable to the terms of its collective bargaining and other existing agreements.