United Steelworkers pledge to hold Trump, Nippon, U.S. Steel accountable

For the USW, this transaction was always about the security of our members, our jobs and our communities.

A ladle of molten iron is poured into a basic oxygen process furnace, where it will be transformed into liquid steel. (Courtesy U.S. Steel)

By David McCall

The future of U.S. Steel’s facilities and the fate of thousands of union jobs remain more uncertain than ever following Nippon Steel’s takeover of the Pittsburgh-based company for $14.9 billion.

After floundering for more than a year, Japanese-owned Nippon pushed through the deal with the support of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The president vocally opposed the transaction for national and economic security reasons from the time it was first announced in December 2023, retreating only at the very end. He approved the transaction—and ardently promoted it—after accepting a so-called “golden share,” giving him personal veto power over facility closures and numerous other major company decisions.

This is uncharted territory for members of the United Steelworkers (USW), who operate U.S. Steel’s mines in Minnesota and mills in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Our contract with U.S. Steel expires next year. At that point, we face the unusual prospect of bargaining a new agreement with an untested, foreign-owned juggernaut combining U.S. Steel’s longtime animus toward workers and Nippon’s repeated efforts to subvert America’s economy, with a divisive and mercurial president in the background.

We will rise to the challenge like we always do: harnessing the power of worker solidarity to negotiate a contract that sustains our families, communities, and industry in the years to come.

USW members negotiated fair wages, good benefits, and retirement security through numerous contract cycles at U.S. Steel. But the company fought us every step of the way and consistently stabbed workers in the back.

For example, U.S. Steel reneged on promised capital upgrades at the Mon Valley Works, investments that would have not only demonstrated the company’s commitment to the Steel City but also positioned these mills for long-term viability.

And given the opportunity to stand with other steelmaking communities across the country, the company instead opted to cut and run.

In recent years, it idled a tin mill in East Chicago, Ind., a plant in Pittsburg, Calif., and tubular operations in Lone Star, Texas, and Lorain, Ohio. It also gutted the Granite City Works in Illinois and the Great Lakes Works in Michigan.

These cuts cost more than a thousand workers their jobs, fueled widespread distrust of U.S. Steel and underscored the company’s focus on shareholder dividends at the cost of America’s security.

We have just as much reason to question Nippon’s motives and the company’s commitment to our workers and communities.

We met with Nippon several times in 2024 to review its plans to make capital investments in our plants and maintain production in the facilities. Every one of Nippon’s promises included a means for repudiating its commitments, and it appears from public filings that the Trump administration acceded to these same weak promises.

Nippon has a history that all Americans who care about preserving a robust manufacturing sector should know. The U.S. International Trade Commission and U.S. Commerce Department repeatedly sanctioned Nippon for illegally dumping steel in American markets—meaning the company spent years undercutting the very industry and workers it now claims to want to lead.

The hypocrisy gets worse. Nippon not only failed to end its unfair trade practices and remedy its longstanding illegal conduct, but it also continued to violate trade laws even as it began its long campaign to take over U.S. Steel and steamroll the deal past skeptical regulators.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in late 2024 refused to sign off on the transaction because of the national security risks that the USW recognized from the very start, and early this year, President Joe Biden issued an order blocking it.

So, the companies shifted gears and began wooing Trump, ultimately hatching the idea of a “golden share” affording him the kind of power he craves.

Trump likes to talk about steel and American workers, but his actual record—slashing federal jobs, gutting safety agencies, crippling the National Labor Relations Board—shows he is no friend of the working people whose skill and sweat keep U.S. Steel running.

U.S. Steel and Nippon finalized the sale without consulting the USW or our members. The details are still trickling out. We just recently learned that the golden share only empowers the government to keep most mills open through 2035, a mere 10 years down the road, and even allows the company to close the Granite City complex as early as 2027.

For the USW, this transaction was always about the security of our members, our jobs and our communities. For U.S. Steel and Nippon, it was about already-rich people lining their pockets, workers be damned.

U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt gets $108 million just for selling out. U.S. Steel’s shareholders profit handsomely. In exchange, Nippon now wields direct control over a large portion of America’s steel industry, one heck of a reward after so many years of attempting to game the system from the outside.

It was disturbing to see some elected officials and other public figures applauding enthusiastically when Trump visited the Mon Valley to announce he had surrendered to the companies’ empty promises and flatteries and approved the sale. With so many unknowns, they had no idea what they were cheering.

We just hope that these community leaders will do the right thing and stand with us going forward, including during upcoming contract talks that will offer the first real glimpses of what the future holds.

Politicians come and go. Executives cash out.

But USW members dig in to protect what we built. We’re the backbone of America, here to stay, ready to fight.

David McCall is international president of the United Steelworkers (USW), which represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply, and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech, and service occupations.

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