USW files grievances against US Steel

The Pittsburgh Business Times is reporting that the United Steelworkers has filed grievances against United States Steel Corp., alleging the steelmaker violated the terms of its contract with the union when it agreed to a $14.9 billion sale to Nippon Steel Corp.

The grievances were filed by the international union based in Pittsburgh and four local unions and claim U.S. Steel didn’t heed the union’s rights under a successorship agreement.

When Cleveland-Cliffs was in the bidding to purchase U.S. Steel, it noted that under the terms of the USW’s collective bargaining agreement with Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, a potential sale of the whole company or USW-represented assets could not be consummated without the support of the USW.

The assignment letter sent from the USW to Cleveland-Cliffs transfers the USW’s right to bid on such potential transactions to Cliffs, that company said, adding, “The USW’s transfer and assignment only applies to Cliffs.”

In its grievance, the Pittsburgh Business Times reports that the USW says it wasn’t convinced that a holding company based in Houston, Nippon Steel North America, could successfully and for the long term meet the terms of the four-year contract that continues even with a U.S. Steel sale.

The publication quotes a note from the USW to its membership that reads: “Commitments like pensions, profit sharing, capital expenditures, retiree health care and more are all part of the compensation we negotiated in bargaining our contract. Anyone who wants to acquire our facilities must have both the intent and the financial capacity to honor them.”