US Steel files NLRB complaint over union

Integrated steelmaker US Steel has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as its negotiations with its unionized workforce drag on.

The company filed the complaint on 26 September, citing a lack of response from the United Steelworkers (USW) union it is negotiating a new contract with since US Steel submitted a contract offer on 30 August. The prior contract expired on 1 September, and both sides have indefinitely extended it while negotiations continue.

"We have continued to bargain in good faith, but, despite what the union has said, we have not received a response to our proposal from the USW," a US Steel spokeswoman said in a statement.

The USW has rejected US Steel's proposals and compared them to a tentative agreement made with rival steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs, which appears to offer better pay increases, among other benefits.

In a text message statement sent out yesterday, the USW called the charges filed by US Steel "frivolous."

In a 22 September bargaining update, the USW said it had proposed that US Steel invest $4bn in its unionized plants over the next four years compared with the steelmaker's $1bn in investment commitments. The proposed investments would include a new electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mill and direct reduced iron (DRI) plant at US Steel's Mon Valley Works outside of Pittsburgh, and the rebuilding of blast furnace A at the company's Granite City, Illinois steel mill. That mill is being considered as part of a sale to SunCoke that would shutter its steelmaking capacity and convert the mill to pig iron production for US Steel's EAF operations.

By Rye Druzin