“Our region knows all too well what it’s like to get screwed over, to see our hard work tossed aside and our good union jobs shipped overseas by corporate executives and Wall Street chasing cheap labor and fatter profits,” Deluzio said. Chris Deluzio of Aspinwall, echoed those concerns. Bob Casey of Scranton and John Fetterman of Braddock and U.S. Several Pennsylvania politicians, including Democratic U.S. Union leadership also questioned whether the Japanese steelmaker is capable of living up to its contractual obligations with workers, including funding pension and retiree insurance benefits. McCall expressed concerns about a foreign company owning the iconic Pittsburgh business, which officials said will retain its name and keep its headquarters in the region. Steel for far too long,” United Steelworkers President David McCall said in a prepared statement. Steel and Nippon is an understatement, as it demonstrates the same greedy, shortsighted attitude that has guided U.S. “To say we’re disappointed in the announced deal between U.S. Reaction from the United Steelworkers’ leadership Downtown was swift. “But, I think time will tell what Nippon Steel is and what their intentions are.”Īfter Monday’s unexpected announcement, Jackson joined several concerned steelworkers at the Union Steelworkers’ Local 1219 union hall on Braddock Avenue, a modest one-story building dwarfed by the nearby Edgar Thomson Works. “Am I enthused about ownership leaving the United States? No,” said Jackson, who worked at Union Electric Steel’s Harmon Creek plant in Washington County before coming to U.S. Steel to be bought by Japanese company for $14.9B, but will keep name, Pittsburgh HQ When his United Steelworkers union’s contract expires at the end of 2026, Jackson will have four years remaining before he qualifies for his pension. Jackson said layoffs or an idled mill, even in the long term, could affect him directly. “This resonates very deeply with me,” said Jackson, 58, of Ben Avon.

Steel’s Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock began wondering about his own future after his cellphone beeped with a stock notification: Japan’s Nippon Steel announced it planned to acquire U.S. At its peak, the mill employed about 8,500 people.Īt 6:30 a.m. In Pittsburgh in 1984, a year after Jackson graduated from high school, J&L Steel shuttered the 140-year-old South Side mill that sat just a mile from Jackson’s Arlington home. Third-generation steelworker Don Jackson said he’s seen how mill owners weathering an economic downturn can cripple a city.

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