NIPPON MAKES APPEAL TO USW
Japanese company’s promises don’t sway union
If Nippon Steel was hoping to win over the United Steelworkers union by putting its promises in writing, it will have to try harder.
The latest appeal, sent to union leaders March 27, made explicit Nippon’s commitment to honor all existing labor agreements, among other workforce guarantees and a $1.4 billion pledge to capital expenditures, according to a copy of the draft agreement obtained by the Post-Gazette.
“The Commitments address each of the principal concerns we have heard from the USW,” a letter attached to the draft agreement states.
USW’s response, posted Tuesday after the Post-Gazette reached out for comment, was uncompromising.
Union leaders called the letter “another meaningless piece of paper” full of “empty promises and open-ended language that would enable [Nippon] to skirt obligations to workers and retirees.”
International President David McCall also wrote directly to Nippon on Tuesday, saying the written proposal “does not provide a meaningful basis for a resolution of the ongoing dispute.”
He said the union was open to meeting again on the issue.
After a March 7 meeting with Nippon in Pittsburgh, USW said the Japanese steelmaker still hadn’t earned its trust, despite promising to honor all labor contracts and to not cut jobs or eliminate plants as part of its $14.9 billion takeover.
The union has consistently said it wants those promises documented in a legally enforceable contract. U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, DPa., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., have called for the same.
Nippon told the Post-Gazette previously that commitments will be “memorialized in legally binding documents once we reach an agreement with the USW.”
Nippon declined to comment on the specific timing of the letter, which comes weeks before U.S. Steel shareholders will vote on the sale. The transaction, announced in December, is still being reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.