When Nippon Steel put a $14.9 billion offer on the table for U.S. Steel in December 2023, the American steel industry looked like this: roughly 89.7 million net tons of raw steel produced that year, about 83,950 workers employed across iron and steel manufacturing, and a United Steelworkers union representing roughly 540,000 reported members across steel, aluminum, mining, and other sectors.
That was the backdrop against which USW‘s national leadership decided to fight the deal.
USW’s federal filing numbers have moved in the wrong direction for the union since then. Membership fell from 539,661 in 2023 to 507,315 in 2025, a loss of 32,346 members in two years, while the union still collected $328.9 million in dues.
An institution that large — and shrinking that quickly — can’t afford to treat rank-and-file trust as an afterthought. Yet USW ended 2025 with more than $1.6 billion in net assets.
Members were leaving, but its net assets kept growing.
USW’s 2025 spending record makes its priorities harder to defend. The union spent $70.1 million on union employees and $9.6 million on political activities and lobbying compared with just $6.5 million in strike benefits.
In 2025, USW held two significant strikes. One that put nearly 2,000 represented employees out of work for eight months, and another that forced 650 people out of work for five months. The strike likely cost these workers tens of millions collectively in lost wages.
It also reported 615 employees earning more than $75,000, with an average total compensation of $107,476. The union paid its own staff more than 10 times what it paid in strike benefits.
The terms were strong, as Nippon’s offer included $2.7 billion in capital investment earmarked specifically for USW facilities.
A 10-year commitment against reducing production capacity at mills in six states. $5,000 closing bonuses for union and eligible nonunion workers alike. Written, enforceable commitments to honor existing labor agreements.
Local union leadership in the Pittsburgh region started coming around once the 10-year Mon Valley commitment was confirmed. Rank-and-file members, by most accounts, were ahead of national leadership on this one — the Washington Post reported in April 2025 that despite USW’s institutional opposition, many rank-and-file members supported the deal anyway.
The institutional fight over that opposition is now closed. In September 2025, USW, Nippon Steel, U.S. Steel, and Cleveland-Cliffs settled their outstanding disputes, with a lawsuit against USW President David McCall dismissed and an unfair labor practice charge the union had filed against U.S. Steel withdrawn.
Roxanne Brown succeeded McCall as international president in March. She inherited a union that had spent two years putting its elites’ own judgment ahead of the workers it claimed to represent.
Almost three years later, the numbers back up the members who wanted the deal.
Nippon’s initial commitment to Mon Valley Works, announced at no less than $1 billion in August 2024, had grown by June 2026 to a projected $2 billion to $2.5 billion — more than double.
U.S. Steel puts the expected economic impact at $1.7 billion for Pennsylvania, with up to 6,381 jobs over three years and $58 million in state and local tax revenue.
The bonuses have been paid. Nearly 50 Nippon Steel professionals have been deployed to U.S. Steel facilities to improve operations. Even Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who opposed the merger as forcefully as anyone in Washington, now credits the Mon Valley investment as “great news for our community, our steelworkers and the union way of life.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said much the same after touring the Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock.
Against that backdrop, USW leadership’s handling of this year’s contract talks looks less like a fresh start than it does a repeat pattern.
In late April, members received a text explaining an early-bargaining option had been floated and discussed, and that after weeks of back and forth, the two sides settled on nothing more than starting “as usual” later in the summer.
Reporting later tied the delay to healthcare assurances, which USW identified as the members’ top bargaining priority.
The delay did not resolve it. Negotiations began July 20, leaving just 43 days before the current contract lapses Sept. 1.
U.S. Steel’s opening five-year proposal, by the company‘s public account, includes wage increases compounding to approximately 18.2%, a $4,000 ratification bonus, and no changes to the Carnegie pension plan, Steelworkers Pension Trust, or uncapped profit-sharing formula.
That’s a strong opening and solid numbers to work with. The one thing worth noting is that an earlier start was on the table, and taking it would have given both sides more room to negotiate.
With the deadline close, getting to “yes” quickly is what serves members best, and the offer on the table gives every reason to.
A prolonged standoff would mean lost wages and health coverage disruption for workers, tighter budgets for their families, and real strain on the steel towns whose local businesses, schools, and civic life depend on plants running at full capacity.
THE TEAMSTERS BETRAYED THEIR OWN WORKERS — AND REPUBLICANS FELL FOR IT AGAIN
The last three years make the case on their own. The members who wanted this deal were right, and the investment has more than delivered. The contract talks are the next chance to lock that in.
A good offer is on the table. USW has a clear path to deliver both.
Rusty Brown is a labor policy expert at the Freedom Foundation.