The Politics of Steel Are Center Stage in Pennsylvania
BUTLER, Pennsylvania -- On Friday, just hours before United States Steel shareholders approved the sale of the legendary Pittsburgh-based company to Japan's Nippon Steel, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves stood in front of a packed room of steelworkers at his Butler Works plant and let them know just what he thought of the pending vote.
He also let them know what he thought of shareholders controlling the fate not just of the workers but also the community and, in a larger sense, the country -- shareholders who he said had lost any emotional stake they may have once had in all three.
He threw his first salvo at U.S. Steel CEO Dave Burritt, who rejected Cleveland-Cliffs' proposed $7.3 billion buyout in July, a deal that would have made the combined assets one of the biggest steelmakers in the world and one of the top steelmakers outside of China, which remains the giant in the global steel market.
"Thanks to the stupidity of Dave Burritt and the board of U.S. Steel and the people that say, 'Oh, the headquarters will be in Pittsburgh.' Well, that's B.S.," he said.
"The CEO works out of Peoria, Illinois. The CFO works out of Connecticut. The general council works out of Florida. There's nobody in that building. Everybody works from home. After we take over, we're going to have more people in that building than they have now," he claimed.
His sentiments, while expressed more colorfully than others, are not alone. The United Steelworkers, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump oppose it, as do local members of Congress and all of their opponents.
In fact, there appear to be only two sets of very specific people who approve of the $14.1 billion deal: the shareholders of U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel.
After the shareholder vote, Burritt said the transaction "truly represents the best path forward" for the union and non-union employees, customers, communities and stockholders.
Burritt said under Nippon ownership, the Japanese company "will maintain the U.S. Steel name and Pittsburgh headquarters."
The United Steelworkers union issued a statement on the vote: "We are not surprised by stockholders electing to cash in and sell out the iconic American company's employees and retirees, along with the communities where we live and work."
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