U.S. Steel, union extend negotiations as labor pact expires

Healthcare remains among the primary sticking points between the company and its union.

By JAMES ENGEL
TribLive

Contract negotiations between U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers union will continue after both agreed to a 30-day extension of a four-year contract that expired Tuesday.

The negotiations are the first since U.S. Steel was acquired by Tokyo-based Nippon Steel over the union’s objections in a $15 billion deal completed last June with the approval of President Donald Trump.

The talks are also the first under the leadership of USW International President Roxanne Brown, who took office in March leading the 850,000-strong union of active members and retirees.

“With days to go before expiration, we’re still very far apart,” a statement from USW local presidents said Friday.

The negotiations affect more than 10,000 workers in U.S. Steel’s domestic flat-rolled facilities, iron ore mining facilities and tubular operations including those at Mon Valley Works — which includes massive facilities in Braddock, Clairton and West Mifflin.

Healthcare coverage appears to be a main issue of contention.

The union said the company’s proposal would “almost certainly lead to substantial cost increases and benefits cuts, shifting costs and risk from (U.S. Steel) to all of us.”

For its part, the company said it’s not proposing premium changes but is outlining “other methods to control healthcare costs through plan design changes and potential increased cost sharing.”

Average healthcare costs for a union worker, according to U.S. Steel, have jumped around $8,000 or 43% since 2021.

The company’s proposal calls for the creation of a joint benefits committee, which would “review healthcare costs and look for ways to keep benefits affordable” each year, according to U.S. Steel’s online contract outline.

U.S. Steel’s five-year proposal also includes annual pay increases and a $4,000 ratification bonus for eligible employees, but no changes to vacations, profit sharing or pensions — another sticking point according to the union statement.

Don Jackson, vice president of USW Local 1219, which represents workers at the 151-year-old Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, said he’s telling his members to stay focused on the job and each other as negotiations drag on.

“It’s so easy to get distracted at a time like this,” Jackson told TribLive Tuesday.

He said he’s not surprised by the extension, which has proved to be run-ofthe- mill. The last round of negotiations for the current contract continued for nearly four months after the previous agreement expired. It was ratified in December 2022.

“It’s the same old song and dance,” Jackson said.

In addition to Mon Valley workers, the negotiations also affect union members at Indiana’s Gary Works — the largest integrated mill in North America — the Granite City Works in Illinois, the Great Lakes Works in Michigan as well as sites throughout Alabama and iron mines in Minnesota.

The union also announced it had agreed to a similar 30-day extension with Ohio-based Cleveland Cliffs Steel.