This story was originally published by Iron Range Today.
It was late May when David Burritt, the chief executive of U.S. Steel, took the stage at a celebration tent outside the Keetac mine, its walls draped with stars and stripes and the “Made in America” future the company’s $150 million investment would usher in for the Iron Range.
The scene should have been nothing out of the ordinary — an early titan of American industry emblazoning itself in the flag of its country — except on this day, the amplified patriotism and excitement of an era-defining project for the company played alongside the uneasy tension of a potential foreign ownership.
As Burritt spoke, he introduced a contingent from Nippon Steel, the Japanese company hoping to add U.S. Steel to its roster, already the fourth largest in the global steel industry. The executive later showed the entourage, which included lead negotiator and Nippon Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori, around the new DR-grade pellet facility, not unlike a college recruiter showing prospective students a new recreation center.
“It gives our little Keewatin a future to look forward to,” Keewatin Mayor Michael LaBine said at the time, even as the future of U.S. Steel faced monumental questions and hurdles from levels of government far removed from the West Range city.
What the coming months bring for miners and steelmakers on the Iron Range and in western Pennsylvania could foreshadow more uncertainty in both the near and long-term outlook for sectors of the American steel industry.
On the heels of reports that President Joe Biden was set to block the U.S. Steel sale to Nippon, the chief executive of the iconic American brand threatened to close plants and move its headquarters out of Pittsburgh if the deal falls apart.
Burritt wrote in a statement Wednesday that the company “will largely pivot away from its blast furnace facilities, putting thousands of good-paying union jobs at risk, negatively impacting numerous communities across the locations where its facilities exist.”
The comments, whether well-placed bluster or outspoken truth of the predicament, reignited concerns politicians and laborers expressed about union jobs and contracts when Nippon’s bid was selected, and its executives promised to follow U.S. Steel’s ongoing vision for the company.
Proponents of the sale highlight the investment, Japan’s status as an American ally and access to new technologies for U.S. facilities. They’ve called Biden’s plan to block the deal — along with similar intentions expressed by respective Republican and Democratic nominees Donald Trump and Kamala Harris — protective politics that would ultimately hurt domestic steel.
Reuters reported that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) said in a 17-page letter sent to Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel that decisions by Nippon could “lead to a reduction in domestic steel production capacity,” forming the Biden administration’s national security argument to block the merger.
The United Steelworkers, backing only Cleveland-Cliffs as its preferred buyer, has said the union has a contractual right to block any sale it dislikes. U.S. Steel disagreed with that point of view, further aggravating an already fraught relationship.
When U.S. Steel purchased Big River Steel in 2021, it backed out of planned investments at Mon Valley Works outside Pittsburgh in favor of the electric arc furnaces that threaten blast furnace operations throughout the company. It was punctuated by another company victory when the local workforce declined to unionize and, last year, when U.S. Steel announced an expansion at Big River.
In a letter to members this week, USW leadership said Burritt shifted from calling U.S. Steel a “world-class steel company” to make “baseless and unlawful threats” that its future “as a viable steel company” was at risk.
“His reckless statements and mismanagement are the only true obstacles to U.S. Steel remaining a sustainable steel company,” stated the letter, penned by USW President David McCall and District 7 Director Mike Millsap.
While the mines on the Iron Range — and facilities at Mon Valley and beyond — hang in the uncomfortable balance of business and politics, Burritt has cashed in on the Nippon sale process and could make millions more.
Forms filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show Burritt sold more than 252,000 shares of U.S. Steel stock on Dec. 18, 2023 — the same day the company announced the proposed merger — as its stock price sky-rocked to $50.013 per share from its Dec. 15 close price of $39.33 per share, netting him nearly $13 million in total.
Burritt would stand to cash in on potentially millions more through the sale and a so-called golden parachute often given to outgoing executives following a merger. Multiple sources confirmed on background to Iron Range Today that a $70 million “change-in-control bonus” referenced in the USW letter was ultimately voted down by the U.S. Steel board.
Still, the CEO standing to make millions — when contrasted with a labor force that has ridden the economic roller coaster of a once-juggernaut steel industry, that is now often subject to the whims of corporate forces — comes at a time when pay disparity between executives and workers has widened.
The decline of U.S. Steel from its heyday is part of the issue at hand today, predating the leadership of Burritt, who succeeded Mario Longhi in 2017 as the industry shook off the cobwebs of a devastating downturn in 2015.
Sources familiar with the company’s operations, who were granted anonymity to speak freely, described the approach under Burritt as “passive” and not tuned into the industry around it, allowing rivals like Cleveland-Cliffs to rapidly expand from a mining-only company to one of the largest steelmakers in North America after purchasing AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA, leaving U.S. Steel short on cash, behind its competition and with a smaller market share in the process.
That culminated in a $100 million infusion from Stelco during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, in exchange for the heavily-conditioned option to buy a 25% stake in Minntac, which was essentially a long-term, below-market-rate pellet contract with the Canadian steelmaker that expires in 2027. Cliffs moved in July to purchase Stelco and it’s unclear how the buy-in option and contract will be settled if that deal clears regulators.
U.S. Steel’s prospects improved and the Keetac investment marked a shining moment for Burritt and the Steelworkers, who viewed the DR-grade pellet plant as a path for the plant to weather downturns and keep Minnesota mines more viable in the future.
Keetac, the main employer in the West Range city of under 1,000 residents, was always the first mine to idle and the last to reopen throughout the last decade. Now, it’s one of the centerpiece items of the Nippon deal.
Still, the mine annually produces about 6 million tons of iron ore pellets for blast furnaces and might not be totally insulated from the company following through on its foreboding message of potential closures.
Minntac in Mountain Iron is the largest taconite mine in North America, annually producing 16 million net tons of iron ore. In the most dire stretches of the 2015 industry downturn and pandemic, the mine never fully idled, but might also have to reckon with fewer blast furnaces for its pellets, while union officials have accused U.S Steel of intentionally pivoting away from the practice to open the market to Nippon imports.
Officials at Nippon have reportedly engaged CFIUS to work around its concerns, offering to ensure a majority of Americans sit on the board governing its U.S. Steel operations, and have pledged to invest heavily in Mon Valley and keep headquarters based in Pittsburgh.
McCall and Millsap, the USW leaders, wrote that a “press release is not a contract” and the influx of new cash was a “last gasp and desperate attempt to save a merger on life support.”
A longer-term concern for local union leaders is how Nippon would negotiate a new contract, which is set to expire in 2026. The company said it would honor current contracts with the union and U.S. Steel, but the commitment reportedly comes with conditions allowing Nippon an escape route.
If the Biden administration ultimately moves to block the merger, the decision is certain to face litigation and a lengthy court battle. Both companies have significantly increased lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., a sign neither is likely to walk away from the deal.
Cleveland-Cliffs, which attempted a takeover of its rival last year and essentially strong armed U.S. Steel to explore a sale, has continued to express interest in acquiring all or parts of the company. USW leadership has also doubled down on backing Cliffs and expressed it doesn’t want Nippon to own the company, or to return to the status quo of an independent U.S. Steel..
Cliffs would face a Department of Justice antitrust regulatory review should it ultimately prevail. Industry sources, speaking on background to describe a potential DOJ review, said the union’s close ties to the White House and Cliffs suggested the company could have entered the takeover process with a basic understanding of assets it would need to shed in order to gain approval.
On Thursday, following Burritt’s comments, Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves lauded the Biden administration and offered to buy any union facilities shuddered by U.S. Steel.
“With the continued exclusive and unwavering support of the United Steelworkers union, and with ample financing support available from our bank group led by J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo,” Goncalves said, “Cleveland-Cliffs stands ready to immediately acquire and invest in any and all union-represented assets that U.S. Steel shuts down, protecting union jobs and investing in the future livelihoods and communities in which the facilities operate.”
