U.S. Steel says it’s being acquired by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at $14.9 billion. The combined company would be one of the top three steel makers in the world.In its long history, U.S. Steel has been a Pittsburgh and American corporate giant. It would become a subsidiary of Nippon Steel, retaining its name and keeping its headquarters in Pittsburgh, where it was founded 122 years ago.Nippon Steel says it will expand its production in the United States.U.S. Steel’s CEO David Burritt says the deal is good for the U.S. and will ensure a competitive domestic steel industry.Back in August, U.S. Steel rejected a $7.3 billion offer from Cleveland-Cliffs. U.S. Steel had said previously it had heard from “multiple credible bidders.””U.S. Steel made the right decision to turn down the offer in August because they almost doubled that offer. So it’s up at $55 a share,” Sara Moeller, Senior Associate Dean at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business, said.The boards of both U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel have approved the acquisition. It also needs approval from shareholders.The corporations hope to close the acquisition in the second or third quarter of next year.The United Steelworkers Union is blasting the plan, with its international president, David McCall, saying, “It demonstrates the same greedy, shortsighted attitude that has guided U.S. Steel for far too long.”The union says it’s been open to working with U.S. Steel to keep it domestically owned. The USW says U.S. Steel “chose to push aside the concerns of its dedicated workforce and sell to a foreign owned company.”The Steelworkers union also says U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel didn’t reach out to the union on the deal. The union says that’s a violation of a partnership agreement with U.S. Steel.That also troubles Democratic Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, who lives across the street from U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson plant.”It’s outrageous. In the fact that they gave any kind of warning, they never had any kind of conversation with the union or acknowledged my office or anything. I mean, I live right across the street from it,” Fetterman said. “I’ve always maintained that steel is security, national security. And the fact that now they’re claiming that they’re going to sell this to a foreign company– again, it’s outrageous.””I don’t know why they wouldn’t do that other than they must have thought that this wasn’t great for the union workers or maybe even for the region or anything like that. It’s incredibly shocking and disappointing, and this was a company that I’ve always had a great relationship and worked together very closely on things, and now not so much,” he added.Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 spoke with Michael Evanovich, president of USW Local 1219, in Braddock.”I feel like an age-old company that was here is now gone. Even though they’re going to retain the name, it is no longer owned domestically,” Evanovich said. “We’re wondering if we’re still going to deal with the same group of people during contract negotiation times. We’re wondering what our contract negotiations are going to look like with a new company owning the company that we previously negotiated with. Those types of things are heavy on our minds.” “It’s just a lack of respect for rules that are in place when these things happen. There’s a protocol that’ s supposed to be done with information flowing back and forth and it wasn’t followed,” Evanovich said.McCall said, “The USW does not believe that Nippon understands the full breadth of the obligations of all our agreements,” “and “we do not know whether it has the capacity to live up to our existing contract.”The union is urging government regulators to “carefully scrutinize” the acquisition and determine if it serves America’s national security interests and if it benefits workers.Nippon Steel says it will honor all of U.S. Steel’s collective bargaining agreements.”Nippon has said, along with U.S. Steel, that they’re going to work with the unions. Obviously, that’s still yet to be seen and negotiated through. I can understand that Nippon maybe didn’t talk to them before the announcement, but I think we need to get let them have some time to actually discuss this,” Moeller said.U.S. Steel has facilities in the Mon Valley, including the Edgar Thomson steel works and the Clairton coke works. It has its Irvin plant in West Mifflin and the company’s corporate offices in Downtown Pittsburgh. It has more than 3,000 employees in the Mon Valley.Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey says he’s also concerned about the deal.”The United States’ marquee steel company should remain under American ownership. From initial reports, this deal appears to be a bad deal for Pennsylvania and for Pennsylvania workers. I’m concerned about what this means for the Steelworkers and the good union jobs that have supported Pennsylvania families for generations, for the long-term investment in the Commonwealth, and for American industrial leadership,” Casey said in a written statement.Dave McCormick, candidate for U.S. Senate in the Republican primary who hopes to face Casey in the fall race, blamed Casey and President Biden, claiming they have weakened national security and the country’s economic standing in the world. “We need to be a manufacturing country, with Americans working for American companies,” McCormick said a post to social media. Democratic Congressman Chris Deluzio, PA-17, said in a written statement, “This deal sounds an awful lot like a betrayal: of my community, of Steelworker jobs, and of American industrial leadership. Folks sent me to Washington to fight for us, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” Nippon Steel executives say they believe the transaction is in the best interests of the two companies, providing a strong immediate value for U.S. Steel shareholders and enhancing Nippon Steel’s long-term growth prospects.