Hundreds of U.S. Steel workers gathered in the frigid cold at the Clairton Coke Works Thursday to rally support for the company’s sale to Japan-based Nippon Steel. Hundreds more appeared via video screens at various U.S. Steel plants across the country.
After a number of those U.S. Steel representatives and workers spoke, several leaders from the Mon Valley towns where U.S. facilities reside took the stage. And one after another they called out the national politicians who they claimed were abandoning them.
West Mifflin’s Mayor Chris Kelly specifically mentioned Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators who have opposed the deal and were absent on Thursday. “Once they get elected, they fly away,” he said. “Where is Fetterman? Where was Casey before he lost? Where's McCormick?”
Both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump have also opposed the deal. Federal regulators are expected to make a decision within the next week or two about whether the deal would pose a threat to national security.
While some earlier speakers called out Biden, North Braddock Mayor Cletus Lee said that many of the workers at the rally had voted for Trump and suggested that Trump had abandoned them too. He called on the president-elect to visit the towns and workers with an interest in the sale and rethink his opposition.
“The bottom line is you made a promise. What you're going to do for these men and women who work here at the mill as well as these communities,” he said. “Look at what you're getting ready to destroy.”
Some speakers took aim at United Steelworkers union leaders, who have maintained opposition to the deal. USW president Dave McCall has continued to say that there aren’t enough guarantees in writing for the company’s union workers.
Kurt Barshick, the vice president of U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, said that the hundreds of workers who showed up for the rally were the true voices of the company’s union workers, and that they favored the deal. He suggested that union leadership was overly focused on a separate, less generous acquisition offer made by Cleveland Cliffs Steel.
“These are the men and the women that the leaders in Washington, D.C., need to hear from,” Barshick said. “They don't need to hear from the Cleveland Cliffs fan club on the 12th floor of the USW office.”
U.S. Steel general manager Scott Buckiso made his final plea for sale, listing off what he said were the deal’s many benefits: cutting-edge technology, promises of billions in investments in the Mon Valley facilities, a $5,000 bonus for all employees and a promise to keep the company’s headquarters in Pittsburgh. Without Nippon’s help, he said, the company wouldn’t be able to afford these changes.
“Our transaction with Nippon Steel is the last and unfortunately the best hope to preserve and grow our integrated steelmaking and union jobs — not just here in the Mon Valley, but across our entire footprint,” Buckiso said.
Glenn Thomas, a powerhouse coordinator at the Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Braddock, said he’s worked for the company for 26 years. He said he wanted the union leadership to come to the bargaining table because the company’s facilities are in need of major work.
“Our hot strip mill is in dire need of upgrades or a complete rebuild,” he said. “Our blast furnaces … are also in need of many investments or — in the cases of the furnaces — a relining.”
Jason Zugai, the vice president of USW Local 2227, said he is a third generation U.S. Steel worker, who saw firsthand the effects of steel closures in the region over the decades. He was skeptical of the deal with Nippon at first, he said, but then he did his own research.
“I came to this conclusion,” he said. “The investments and commitment to our facilities and our members are more than I ever thought we would ever see again.”
