U.S. Steel rallies for sale to Nippon Steel as Biden threatens to block deal

Standing before a sea of workers in orange jackets and hard hats, U.S. Steel executive Scott Buckiso argued for a $14.9 billion sale to Nippon Steel at a rally in downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Buckiso, senior vice president and chief manufacturing officer of U.S. Steel’s North American Flat-Rolled segment, zeroed in on a pledge by Nippon Steel to spend $2.7 billion through 2026 on plant improvements if the deal survives federal scrutiny.

That includes at least $1 billion to replace or upgrade the West Mifflin hot strip mill and other facilities in the Mon Valley Works.

“U.S. Steel will simply not make these investments if it continues to be a standalone company,” Buckiso said. “It is time to put politics aside and do what’s right for you and all of the other steel workers in Pennsylvania.”

That last line elicited applause from an audience that filled about half the courtyard next to the U.S. Steel Tower and included hundreds of employees bussed in from the Mon Valley Works. Some vigorously waved signs with slogans like “people over politics.”

About 10 minutes later, after the courtyard had cleared and the buses were once again packed, the Washington Post reported that President Joe Biden will block the deal.

And that is the hallmark of opinion surrounding the proposed deal: U.S. Steel and its shareholders, along with state and local politicians favor the merger as a way to bolster the company and protect local jobs while federal lawmakers and the national United Steelworkers union say it’s just a union-busting move by greedy corporate executives.

The prospective sale of the iconic American steel giant to a Japanese steelmaker appeared to enter its dramatic final phase Wednesday. Biden’s plans, also reported in the New York Times, put the deal in even more serious jeopardy than earlier in the day, when the Wall Street Journal quoted U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt as warning that his company could be forced to leave Western Pennsylvania without a deal.

“If (the Mon Valley Works) won’t make it to the next decade, why would we stay there?” he told the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. Steel shareholders overwhelmingly approved the deal in April, but detractors have emerged just about everywhere else.

The United Steelworkers has decried the deal — favoring a merger with Ohio firm Cleveland-Cliffs, with its own stainless steel plant near Butler — and on Wednesday called Burritt’s statements “reckless” and the rally “pathetic.”

There’s hardly a federal lawmaker who has come out in support of the transaction, leading U.S. Steel to mail fliers in Western Pennsylvania and possibly elsewhere with pleas to call elected officials and ask they change their minds.

There even is a rift between federal lawmakers and their counterparts at the state and local levels.

“We’ve got to stop the pandering and political grandstanding,” said state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward on Wednesday morning. “We’ve got to think about the families that are depending on keeping jobs here and keeping our heritage in southwestern Pennsylvania intact.”

At the rally, West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly spoke about the prospect of his community losing the Irvin Works, one of three facilities comprising the Mon Valley Works. Collectively, the plants employ more than 3,000 people, according to U.S. Steel.

“I’m looking today and I’m wondering why more people aren’t (mad) at the politicians using these people in the Mon Valley as pawns,” Kelly said. “Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, you should be upset, and you should let them know it.”

Braddock Councilwoman Chardae Jones briefly took the stage, too.

Representatives of the region in Congress say they’re unmoved by Wednesday’s events.

Rep. Chris Deluzio said Burritt’s comments are just another chapter in a long history of “anti-union behavior.”

“At every juncture, (U.S. Steel has) neglected investments in Western Pennsylvania and other strong union regions in favor of investment in facilities in anti-union states with non-unionized work forces,” Deluzio said.

Sen. Bob Casey took a similar tack, calling Burritt’s statement “a slap in the face to the Steelworkers,” adding that his priority is keeping steel jobs in the Mon Valley.

His fellow Senator from Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, put out a much more colorful release about an hour after the rally that called out U.S. Steel executives for “looking for a golden parachute.” The statement also referred to his months of slamming the deal.

In line with other local politicians at the rally, Allegheny County Councilman At-Large Sam DeMarco said it would be a big mistake to reject Nippon Steel, a company offering a “lifeline” to the Mon Valley.

“Many times in life, opportunity only knocks once,” DeMarco said. “I don’t want us to miss this opportunity.”