In late April, United Steelworkers (USW) members got a text message that should have been reassuring but, instead, raised more questions than it answered.
Union leaders told members U.S. Steel had floated the idea of starting bargaining early, that the two sides had gone “back and forth” over what that would take and, in the end, bargaining would “take place as usual, starting later this summer.”
Reading between those careful lines: An opportunity to get ahead of the clock came and went.
Reporting later showed the sticking point was healthcare assurances, and USW later said healthcare was members’ top bargaining priority. But starting later was simply a delay dressed up as strategy to let members think the union was participating in productive bargaining.
That matters more than it might sound. The current four-year contract runs out Sept. 1. Formal bargaining finally began on July 20, just 43 days before the deadline.
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