Editor, News-Register:
President Joe Biden took executive action to block the $14.3 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, a Japanese firm. The American steelmaker can trace its roots to the third wealth wave, which occurred in the 19th century and formed from Andrew Carnegie’s steel empire, in which Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick played such a key role at a time that included John D. Rockefeller Sr. of the 1890s Standard Oil of Ohio.
The USW praised the Biden decision — one that President-elect Donald Trump had also planned to take.
“We do not doubt that it’s the right move for our members and our national security,” the union said in a statement.
Echoing the sewing guilds of earlier times, they appealed to the Queen of England for protection against the advent of sewing loom.
U.S. Steel has claimed it could be forced to shut down the mills represented by the USW if it doesn’t get the $2.7 billion in investment planned by Nippon Steel as part of its proposed purchase. The companies’ joint statement again repeated that argument.
According to a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on U.S. Steel’s 100th anniversary in 2001, the company’s peak employment of 340,000 came in 1943, during World War II, when it played a critical role in Allied forces’ war efforts. The same article said the company’s steel output reached 35.8 million tons by 1953, as steelmakers in Europe and Japan struggled to recover from the war.
The alarming fact is that U.S. Steel shipped only 11.3 million tons of steel in the 12 months ending in September, utilizing just less than two-thirds of the capacity of its older, union-represented steel mills.
Of the six historical wealth waves in our nation, only two were not founded on disruptive new technologies — the first and the sixth. The second was during the railroad boom, the third as previously mentioned steel and oil, the fourth was driven by Henry Ford’s automobile, the fifth post-WWII boom introduced aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and office machines. History has shown that disruptive new technology cannot be corralled — be it the discovery of fire by the caveman or the printing press in the 15th century.
The first wealth wave occurred during the era of Alexander Hamilton, Stephen Girard and John Jacob Astor, and the sixth was during the inflation era of the 1970s and early 80s.
The mid-life unionized workers have been placed in an impossible situation if the merger occurs. The $2.7 billion in investment planned by Nippon Steel will include disruptive new technology and fewer jobs; if the merger is not allowed then U.S. Steel will be forced to close old plants with a loss in steelworker jobs.
The leadership in Washington has failed us since the end of WWII. Turning away from technology has never worked — the cat is out of the bag, so to speak.
We have seen what the Beltway Society has done to Upper Ohio Valley industries — that Potomac River bunch with their pirate smiles.
A seventh wealth wave awaits over the next sunrise for today’s school children, so educate them to meet the middle of the 21st century head-on.
Michael Traubert
Wellsburg
This post was originally published on here
