FILE - The United States Steel Mon Valley Works Clairton Plant in Clairton, Pa., is shown on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. Generations of Pittsburghers have worked at steel mills, rooted for the Steelers or ridden the rollercoaster at Kennywood amusement park, giving them a bird's eye view of the massive smokestacks of Edgar Thomson Works, the region's last blast furnace. Now, steel town USA's most storied steel company, U.S. Steel, is on the cusp of being bought by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. in a deal that is kicking up an election-year political maelstrom across America's industrial heartland. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Nippon sweetens deal for US Steel with promise to invest in Mon Valley
By Tom Riese/ WESA
FILE - The United States Steel Mon Valley Works Clairton Plant in Clairton, Pa., is shown on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. Generations of Pittsburghers have worked at steel mills, rooted for the Steelers or ridden the rollercoaster at Kennywood amusement park, giving them a bird's eye view of the massive smokestacks of Edgar Thomson Works, the region's last blast furnace. Now, steel town USA's most storied steel company, U.S. Steel, is on the cusp of being bought by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. in a deal that is kicking up an election-year political maelstrom across America's industrial heartland. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Tokyo-based Nippon Steel has pledged to make additional investments in Pittsburgh-area U.S. Steel facilities, if its purchase of the iconic Pennsylvania company passes a federal review.
Announced Wednesday, the new $1.3 billion commitment would create more productive and cleaner blast furnaces for the USS Mon Valley Works, said Nippon Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori in a statement.
“We seek to provide the highest-quality American-made steel products to American customers, fueled by American workers, while also securing American steel supply for the future,” Mori said.
The company also pledged $300 million in upgrades for U.S. Steel’s plant in Gary, Indiana — spending that will be added to a previous $1.4 billion commitment to union-represented facilities.
United Steelworkers union representatives, who have opposed the USS sale since the outset, weren’t impressed by the new promise.
“At the end of the day, a press release is not a contract,” said USW president David McCall in a statement Wednesday.
Union workers’ misgivings about the deal include worries about its impact on pension benefits and national security, and McCall wrote, “Nippon is still trying to hide behind its North American shell company to shield itself from its contractual obligations to retirees and our communities. This is just more of what we’ve seen all along: lots of words, no real change.”
In a video message to union members earlier this month, McCall expressed worries that a merger would involve Nippon’s North American subsidiary, not the parent company in Japan.
“When we have issues with our collective bargaining agreement, it’s not going to be that ultimate parent” negotiating, McCall said on Aug. 9. “That concerns us.”
Nippon repeatedly said it expects to close the acquisition of U.S. Steel by the end of this year. But the deal has been opposed by state and federal Democrats and Republicans alike, including President Joe Biden and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Word of Nippon’s commitment surfaced during a press event on domestic manufacturing earlier this week. U.S. Senator John Fetterman intimated the firm was pledging an additional billion-dollar investment in western Pennsylvania. He offered no details but said the move came when Western Pennsylvania Democrats helped “jam that up.”
Whether local officials will change their posture now was unclear Thursday afternoon: State lawmakers whose districts include U.S. Steel facilities in Braddock, Clairton and West Mifflin did not immediately respond to WESA’s request for comment.
