Steel Mills
NLMK USA, USW Reach Tentative Labor Deal
Written by Michael Cowden
February 18, 2021
NLMK USA has reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers at its operations in western Pennsylvania, according to both company and union leaders. If ratified, the pact would bring an end to a strike that began nearly six months ago.
“We reached a tentative agreement today. … We are optimistic that today’s actions will lead to a ratification vote,” NLMK USA President and CEO Robert D. Miller said in an email.
USW District 10 Staff Representative Todd Clary confirmed that the union had reached an agreement with the steelmaker. He did not provide further comment.
USW District 10 includes the state of Pennsylvania. Workers at Local 1016-3, which represents more than 400 employees at NLMK USA’s Pennsylvania operations, have been on strike since Aug. 22.
NLMK USA operates an electric-arc furnace mill in Portage, Ind., in addition to its slab-rerolling and downstream sheet processing operations in Pennsylvania.
The company has continued production in Pennsylvania with salaried staff as well as replacement workers, but is not able to run as many shifts as it could with a full contingent of hourly workers.
And NLMK USA’s financial performance suffered in the fourth quarter because of the one-two punch of the labor action and shortage of duty-free slabs. The company to date has been unable to fully capitalize on record steel prices.
Steel Market Update’s average hot-rolled coil price stands at $1,200 per ton ($60/cwt), a new all-time high. That figure is up 18.8% from $1,010 per ton in early January and up 172.7% from a 2020 low, recorded in August, of $440 per ton.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills
Nucor names Batterbee, Bledsoe to HR roles
Nucor Corp. has promoted Thomas J. Batterbee to the position EVP of human resources and talent and appointed Elizabeth Bledsoe to the newly created position of president of human resources and talent.
Millett sees tariffs, CORE case benefiting SDI
Steel Dynamics' top exec thinks Trump’s tariff policies, as well as the results from the recent CORE case, will prove advantageous to the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker and aluminum company.
USW digs in on opposition to USS-Nippon deal
“We remain deeply concerned about the national and economic security implications of the subject transaction,” the union stated in the letter dated April 21.
SDI’s Q1 earnings slump on-year, but up sequentially
SDI earnings slip in first quarter year over year, but are up sequentially.
POSCO inks MoU with Hyundai on Louisiana EAF mill
POSCO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyundai Motor Group that includes an equity investment in Hyundai’s previously announced EAF mill set to be built in Louisiana.