By John Geddie
(Reuters) -The head of a powerful labour union opposing U.S. Steel’s sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel said he has not received assurances that the would-be owners are committed to ensuring the lasting success of the strategic U.S. firm.
Nippon Steel’s $15 billion takeover bid has been criticised by both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump and is subject to a national security review by the secretive government panel CFIUS which is due later this month.
The White House on Tuesday said Biden will wait for the outcome of the review before deciding on whether to block it after U.S. Steel’s shares tumbled on a report suggesting he was poised to kill the deal.
David McCall, the head of the United Steelworkers union, told Reuters on Monday that one his top concerns is that Nippon may import steel into the U.S. from its international mills, a move he worries would erode a company that helped build the Empire State Building and arm allied forces in World War Two.
“When we’ve had discussions with them there’s been nothing that would assure us that there’s a long-term viability in the operations,” McCall told Reuters via video call from his office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“They (Nippon Steel) want a return on that investment and I understand that but it can’t be harvesting our facilities and letting them slowly but surely over a period of time deteriorate so that they can then bring product in from their other facilities around the world and have access to our market.”
Nippon Steel has previously denied it will use the deal as cover to import steel and has made a series of pledges to protect jobs and invest in U.S. facilities it sees as key to its future growth.
Nippon Steel declined to comment further on McCall’s comments.
The union leader also criticised the Japanese suitors for not trying to stop or intervene in what he called “bullying” from U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt to close the deal.
Burritt told the Wall Street Journal in September that the firm would close steel mills and likely move its headquarters out of Pittsburgh if the sale failed.
“He’s like a schoolyard bully demanding your lunch money,” he said of Burritt, adding the threats had “scared the hell” out of some of his members.
In emailed comments, U.S. Steel said the Japanese bid was the “only realistic transaction” and one that would increase investment in blast furnace facilities.
Nippon Steel is racing to close the deal before Trump – who has vowed to block the transaction – takes office on Jan. 20.