I’ve worked at the U.S. Steel mill in Clairton, Pennsylvania, for almost three decades. As I get ready to retire in less than two years, I look back at my time with the company with pride and gratitude.
That good-paying, union job gave me the stability and resources I needed to leave an abusive marriage, start over and build a good life for my kids and me.
Today, my kids are grown, and my son also works for U.S. Steel. I wish he could count on a stable job here for the next 30 years. But U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt wants to sell U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, putting my future, his future and that of so many of our friends and neighbors at risk.
A general view of the exterior of the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Plant, on March 20, in Clairton, Pennsylvania.
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
My community is built around U.S. Steel. Just on my block, 10 of us work in the Clairton mill. Almost anyone who lives in the Mon Valley can give you a long list of friends, neighbors, and family members who work for the company.
We’ve always been able to count on our jobs and our union for a steady paycheck, health insurance and a pension when we retire.
For generations, these jobs represented a bond between us and U.S. Steel. Now, Nippon and U.S. Steel treat them like bargaining chips.
Over the past year, Burritt and the company’s corporate leaders spread a great deal of misinformation about what the deal would mean for communities like mine. But when you scratch beneath the surface, Nippon Steel’s so-called promises just don’t hold up–all you find are lots of red flags.
Nippon Steel is a Japanese company with a track record that’s abysmal for workers. I’m worried about what the future looks like with Nippon Steel because it’s made no enforceable promises to U.S. Steel workers. I’m worried because Nippon Steel’s leaders refuse to make any commitments about what would happen to us when our current union contract expires in 2026. I’m worried that I might never see my pension after all.
And I’m worried that Nippon Steel will shut down mills, devastating our hometowns.
The only certainty with Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition is that Burritt will get a $72 million payday if it goes through. But what happens to me? What happens to my son? What happens to our neighbors?
Nippon Steel has shown what it is time and time again. It’s repeatedly flooded the American market with cheap products to undermine the U.S. steel industry. It’s busted unions and violated labor laws. Now, it’s looking to acquire U.S. Steel in a deal that American leaders from all over the political spectrum have derided as a threat to the American economy and our national security.
We cannot afford this kind of risk. Jobs at U.S. Steel remain as vital now as they were when I joined the company decades ago, offering a path forward for workers just starting out, single parents seeking security and so many other union members who are raising families or planning retirement.
What’s more, U.S. Steel is a highly successful, profitable company only because of the decades of hard work by me, my neighbors and steelwork kers across the country. We’re still holding up our end.
There’s no reason for U.S. Steel to break its bond with us now.
Renee Hough is a utility technician at U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works and a member of USW Local 1557.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
