Nippon and USS drop litigation vs. USW and Cliffs

This includes the revocation of the Nippon/USS lawsuit against USW International President David McCall, filed in January in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

The USW has also withdrawn an unfair labor practice charge against U.S. Steel that it had filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The complaint charged the steelmaker with intimidating workers and undermining the union.

“The parties exchanged no financial consideration in connection with the termination of the litigation, and remain focused on steelmaking and collective bargaining,” said identical Sept. 3 statements from Nippon, USS, and USW.

Cliffs lawsuit dropped

Additionally, Nippon and U.S. Steel have dropped their claims against Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and its CEO, Lourenco Goncalves.

They had charged Goncalves and McCall with illegally conspiring to undermine and prevent Nippon Steel’s nearly $15-billion purchase of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. A year and a half after it was first announced, the merger finally closed in June.

While Goncalves and McCall had been quite vocal in their opposition while the deal was still pending, they claimed it was their First Amendment right to speak out.

Of this week’s voluntary case dismissal with prejudice, Goncalves said: “This outcome speaks for itself.”

Cliffs said there was no exchange of financial consideration, but “other terms of the settlement agreement remain confidential.”

Goncalves added that Cliffs remains “fully focused on advancing our steelmaking leadership in North America.”