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US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

cnn.com

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Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#51

Post by nickpinkston »

I'm interested in how the United Steelworkers thinks about the generally better track record of Japanese companies with labor relations vs. American management.

This makes it seem like it was purely an "American First" kind of sentiment, whereas I could imagine this being better for the workers themselves.

This then makes me wonder if the Steelworkers is more company union (ie their leaders are bought off / cushy with management with lots of perks) or if this was put to the vote by the general union membership, etc.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#53

Post by h2odragon »

codexb wrote: post #25

Didn't the US government stop this exact same thing from happening 20 years ago over national security concerns?

an easy response is "Our government no longer believes steel is critical to our national security"

Cant find mention of US steel being sold, perhaps this?

> In 1984, the federal government prevented U.S. Steel from acquiring National Steel, and political pressure from the United States Congress, as well as the United Steelworkers (USW), forced the company to abandon plans to import British Steel Corporation slabs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Steel

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#54

Post by Macha »

nickpinkston wrote: post #51

I'm interested in how the United Steelworkers thinks about the generally better track record of Japanese companies with labor relations vs. American management. This makes it seem like it was purely an "American First" kind of sentiment, whereas I could imagine this being better for the workers themselves. This then makes me wonder if the Steelworkers is more company union (ie their leaders are bought off / cushy wit…

I don't think that applies as much to line workers in the overseas subsidiaries of Japanese companies as it does in the central company. Like, Square Enix's former European divisions, Sony of America, all run much more like companies in their home countries than like their parent company.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#55

Post by [deleted] »

Aunche wrote: post #20
Supermancho wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel scrap from discarded cars and other products into new steel products This means "chinese" mini mills^1 which require a lot of manual labor to collect the steel. This is not a technology problem, but a manpower/safety race to the bottom, that the US couldn't e…

The Reuters article is just a history of Chinese steel production. It doesn't support anything you said. According to the CNN article, Nucor, an American non-unionized American company, is successfully utilizing mini-mills. > One pioneer of this mini-mill technology, Charlotte-based Nucor has a market capitalization of $42.5 billion compared to US Steel’s value of just over $14 billion as set by this deal. > Nucor is…

[deleted]

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#56

Post by rayiner »

nickpinkston wrote: post #51

I'm interested in how the United Steelworkers thinks about the generally better track record of Japanese companies with labor relations vs. American management. This makes it seem like it was purely an "American First" kind of sentiment, whereas I could imagine this being better for the workers themselves. This then makes me wonder if the Steelworkers is more company union (ie their leaders are bought off / cushy wit…

Japanese companies in the US follow US labor laws, and no more. Big US companies are also subject to political pressure, which the unions can exert, more than foreign companies.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#57

Post by Supermancho »

Aunche wrote: post #20
Supermancho wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel scrap from discarded cars and other products into new steel products This means "chinese" mini mills^1 which require a lot of manual labor to collect the steel. This is not a technology problem, but a manpower/safety race to the bottom, that the US couldn't e…

The Reuters article is just a history of Chinese steel production. It doesn't support anything you said. According to the CNN article, Nucor, an American non-unionized American company, is successfully utilizing mini-mills. > One pioneer of this mini-mill technology, Charlotte-based Nucor has a market capitalization of $42.5 billion compared to US Steel’s value of just over $14 billion as set by this deal. > Nucor is…

>> It doesn't support anything you said

> What China could not achieve by Stalinist state planning or Maoist revolutionary enthusiasm, it achieved by letting a million private-sector smelters bloom.

Good luck with whatever.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#58

Post by postalrat »

jeffbee wrote: post #29
FredPret wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US Steel hasn't failed, it's been pumping out money for a long time. $1.6B in profit in the last 4Q's on a market cap of $9B. It's far from dead - leverage is only 45%; they've got $11B in equity in the company. [ https://valustox.com/X ]

If YouTube goes from having 100% market share to the 27th-largest video site, you will definitely say that it has failed. That is the history of US Steel.

It will fall to 27th and beyond. It's just a matter of time.

Everything fails if you only look at the last few moments.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#59

Post by kurthr »

datameta wrote: post #48
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most chinese workers (and foreigners working in China) are in a union, however run by the communist party.

Of what value is a union in China? I have seen some of the most deplorable safety tandards that don't even dream of OSHA-tier compliance.

The value of a union in China is profit for the owner of the company and control of worker organization. Going outside the ACFTU worker organization is illegal and punishable.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#60

Post by paxys »

rayiner wrote: post #56
nickpinkston wrote: post #51

I'm interested in how the United Steelworkers thinks about the generally better track record of Japanese companies with labor relations vs. American management. This makes it seem like it was purely an "American First" kind of sentiment, whereas I could imagine this being better for the workers themselves. This then makes me wonder if the Steelworkers is more company union (ie their leaders are bought off / cushy wit…

Japanese companies in the US follow US labor laws, and no more. Big US companies are also subject to political pressure, which the unions can exert, more than foreign companies.

Exactly. Union leaders are powerful because they control a large voting bloc and so have local/national politicians at their fingertips. If you take that away then they are left with a normal, boring job.
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