Posted on 09/26/2024 1:02:14 PM PDT by Miami Rebel
Kamala Harris was greeted on the tarmac outside Pittsburgh Wednesday not by executives of U.S. Steel but by union leaders.
"It’s most important that we maintain America’s ability to have American manufacturing of steel by American workers,” she told MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle.
Ms. Ruhle had compared U.S. Steel leaving Pittsburgh to Philadelphia losing the Liberty Bell to Newark.
The iconic Pittsburgh steelmaker has been trying to finalize a sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel for nearly a year, including a robust public relations campaign to convince politicians and workers that the $14.9 billion transaction is the best path forward.
Vice President Harris has voiced her opposition to the deal before, joining the ranks of Joe Biden and Donald Trump. But her remarks Wednesday offered the most detailed rationale to date.
"There is not a new industry that I can imagine that is not going to require steel,” Ms. Harris said. "And having American workers in an American company manufacturing that steel for those new industries is going to be critically important, not only in terms of our economy, but also in the context of national security.”
Her remarks come just weeks after U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt said the company may move out of Pittsburgh if a sale to Nippon Steel is blocked by the government.
Without foreign investment, U.S. Steel could be forced to close manufacturing centers in the region around Pittsburgh, Mr. Burritt said — a move that would put thousands of workers out of work.
The USW called the threats “reckless.” Politicians including Sen. John Fetterman accused the company of bluffing. But analysts and investors said the threats were likely legitimate. “They’d be out of there in a nanosecond,” said one investor speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a private matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
How does stripping workers of union representation “save” the industry? The industry has managed to flourish for over a century of unionization.
As it is, steelworkers’ wages place them solidly dead-center in the range of US national average income.
You’re conflating a “strong steel manufacturing base” with ownership domicile.
The Daimler Benz workers in South Carolina couldn’t give a tinker’s damn whether their wages come from Stuttgart, Detroit, or Timbuktu.
(By the way, domestic steel production has increased 50% in the past 15 years.)
“How does stripping workers of union representation “save” the industry? The industry has managed to flourish for over a century of unionization.”
They weren’t competing against non-union workers, so they had a monopoly. It’s over now, as history has shown.
“As it is, steelworkers’ wages place them solidly dead-center in the range of US national average income.”
Anyway, it’s not a ‘wage problem’ it is an ATTITUDE PROBLEM.
Honda and Toyota both pay the same as the UAW, but the plants operate at less than half of the cost (hence the much better cars). Others, like VW, and Toyota’s Saturn experiment, ended up in disaster, as they allowed the unions to destroy them.
Yes, Harris has work now Nippon that in the bud. 🌷⛩️
She wants the state to take over it.
Uh, didn't Rosie O'donnel tell us fire can't melt steal. I'm so confused.
It will die. Nippon will get it for cents, sans union.
US Steelsan.
Behold the Potemkin candidate. She's a whole lot of nothing.
Behold the Potemkin candidate. She's a whole lot of nothing.
I can understand misgivings about a Japanese company owning a major steel plant in the US. If China does a lightning-fast invasion of Japan, to get even with them for the Marco Polo Bridge and the Rape of Nanking, that would give them control over the steel mills, at least on paper.
The U.S. steel industry has been in decline for decades. It’s now a shell of its former self. U.S. Steel itself was once the largest company in the world in any industry, and Bethlehem Steel finally closed down in 2003.
These companies were only able to survive under strong union influence because so much of the business was in government contracts for things like military hardware and highway bridges.
Manufacturing steel requires ENERGY and LOTS OF IT.
Manufacturing steel requires COAL and LOTS OF IT.
That might change if Nippon Steel takes them over and actually wants to grow market share.
The entire US government just spent billions to ensure Tiktok doesn’t have xhinese ownership.🤷♂️
Most people are always starting to make waves about Chinese owned land. It matters to someone and when it comes to steel which amounts to critical capability it would be pretty silly to have 100% of all steel companies owned by...Russian Oligarchs.
>>”Both presidential candidates should keep out of this.”
Keep out of this? You’re kidding, right? This is exactly the sort of thing Presidents are supposed to care about. Whether or not it’s ultimately approved, it shouldn’t just be rubber stamped without the executive branch taking a hard look at it to see whether or not it compromises jobs or national security in any way.
Harris is playing "me too" and it's anybody's guess what would happen if she's elected.
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