‘Gut punch’: Trump upsets local union leaders by opposing U.S. Steel-Nippon deal
RYAN DETO | Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024 2:28 p.m.
On Monday night, President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his opposition to the proposed $14.9 billion sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel Co., vowing to block the deal when he takes office.
Some steelworkers in Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley who support the deal — and Trump — weren’t happy.
“I am very frustrated with the news that came out last night,” United Steelworkers Local 2227 Vice President Jason Zugai said during a panel discussion Tuesday in Washington, D.C. “I didn’t expect that to come out. So that was like a gut punch.”
The local represents hundreds of workers at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Works in West Mifflin.
Zugai, Local 2227 President Jack Maskil and West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly met with politicians Tuesday to lobby them to approve the sale, which has come under scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats alike.
Leaders in both parties, including President Joe Biden and both of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators, oppose the deal on national security grounds. Many believe the iconic Pittsburgh company should remain domestically owned.
Also standing in opposition is the leadership of the United Steelworkers. Its president, David McCall, told TribLive last month that despite fractures among his membership, he remains firmly against any deal.
McCall said he has little faith that Nippon will make good on promises to pour $1 billion into the Mon Valley Works, which some analysts say needs at least that much money to remain competitive.
Maskil, the local president, acknowledged that when the U.S. Steel-Nippon pact was first proposed in December 2023, he and other steelworkers were skeptical. Those concerns began to fade, however, after Nippon Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori met with local steelworkers and Mon Valley elected officials in October.
Maskil told the panel convened by the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, that 95% of the employees at the Irvin Works now support the Nippon purchase. He suspects that a majority of workers across all three Mon Valley facilities back the deal.
There are more than 3,000 union steelworkers across the three facilities in the Mon Valley Works.
Outreach to Shapiro
Zugai said he attended Trump rallies in Westmoreland County and Pittsburgh in the run-up to the election, even meeting with the president-elect at one, and helped organize steelworkers to attend.
Trump did not mention any opposition to the U.S. Steel-Nippon deal at those rallies. Zugai said Trump told him then that he would take another look at the deal after he won the election.
Zugai said he was hopeful Trump would eventually support it after speaking with Mon Valley workers and members of Mon Valley communities.
Kelly, the West Mifflin mayor, poked fun at Trump for not coming around to their side. He said he has yet to hear from any national politician about a plan to invest in the Mon Valley plants if the deal with Nippon is blocked.
“Maybe he has concepts of a plan,” Kelly said about Trump, referencing an often-mocked line from Trump during the September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris when discussing health care.
The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a body responsible for evaluating the national security implications of foreign investments in American companies, is weighing the sale.
The committee’s deadline to issue a determination on the sale is Dec. 23.
In the meantime, Zugai said, local supporters like himself have been trying to persuade politicians to back the deal.
He said he spoke with Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office and came away feeling that the governor is trying to help push the deal through.
Shapiro, at a stop in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, confirmed that Zugai has met with members of his team.
The Democratic governor didn’t express outright support for the U.S. Steel-Nippon proposal but said he is trying to ensure a deal that keeps steel jobs in the Mon Valley.
“I have been where I have always been. I have been convening people to the table, with all the relevant parties, to try and see if there is some deal to be had that will protect the jobs in Western Pennsylvania and, importantly, have a future for steelmaking in the Mon Valley,” Shapiro said.
A report by Bloomberg indicated that Shapiro has spoken with Nippon’s Mori and Biden about the sale.
Shapiro didn’t confirm those reports and said he would rather not divulge the details of private conversations. He added, though, that he felt the need to get involved in the sale because he lacks faith in U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt.
“If we leave this just to Dave Burritt alone, he is going to do what he has been doing, and what he promises to do — and that is to move jobs out of Western Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “My approach all along has been to bring people to the table, see what we can do to find common ground, and see what we can do to protect these jobs and create future opportunities.”
Ryan Deto is a TribLive reporter covering politics, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County news. A native of California’s Bay Area, he joined the Trib in 2022 after spending more than six years covering Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh City Paper, including serving as managing editor. He can be reached at rdeto@triblive.com.
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