Local union still not backing proposed U.S. Steel deal

With a court date looming Wednesday that may give a first look at a proposed deal to buy the beleaguered Canadian arm U.S. Steel, the local steelworkers union is still not close to supporting the deal that's currently on the table.

Private equity investment firm Bedrock Industries announced a memorandum of understanding with the province back in September, and the U.S. Steel parent corporation signed on earlier this month.

The union local representing steelworkers at the Lake Erie U.S. Steel Canada plant signed a "letter of support" last week in favour of the Bedrock Industries bid to buy the company, but no such letter appears to be coming from the Hamilton steelworkers union, local 1005.

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"We've talked about it, but no," said 1005 president Gary Howe. "We still have a ways to go on it."

Howe said jobs, pensions and benefits are the paramount issues still facing the union. Local 1005 includes 9,000 retirees and 540 active members that are waiting to see how the deal shakes down for them.

A news release from the province from September said the bid from Bedrock is "intended to protect pensions and assist in providing post-employment benefits."

The union says the prospective deal may be discussed in court on Wednesday – but the union members still have not seen any details. "I was told no, you can't have it," he said.

"There's a lot of issues for the sales agreements. Last time the hedge funds made a lot of money."

U.S. Steel Canada is currently under bankruptcy protection and through an ongoing court supervised process is trying to restructure and find a buyer.