Nippon Steel, USW reportedly preparing to talk

Nippon Steel Corp., the Japan-based company that has agreed to buy Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp., reportedly has met with representatives from the United Steelworkers (USW) regarding the transaction.

The USW and Nippon Steel have signed a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), according to Bloomberg, designed to allow the two organizations to meet privately about USW-related aspects of the acquisition.

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel announced the proposed acquisition last December. Subsequently, a handful of elected officials have expressed opposition to the deal, ostensibly for national security reasons, though Japan has been allied diplomatically with the United States since 1946.

Prior to the Nippon Steel announcement, Cleveland-Cliffs had publicly acknowledged being a bidder for U.S. Steel. Last fall, Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves had received the backing of the USW for his bid.

The potential of a Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel combination also had been met with some questions, particularly from steel buyers who were concerned the merger would place every blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace steel mill in the U.S. in the hands of one company.

In the latest development, Bloomberg says USW President David McCall informed Bloomberg no follow-up meetings had yet been held with Nippon Steel after the NDA was singed. The Japanese steelmaker also confirmed to Bloomberg it had signed the NDA with the labor union.