U.S. Steel
Encyclopedia
The United States Steel Corporation , more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an integrated steel
producer with major production operations in the United States
, Canada
, and Central Europe
. The company is the world's tenth largest steel producer ranked by sales (see list of steel producers). It was renamed USX Corporation in 1991 and back to United States Steel Corporation in 2001 when the shareholders of USX spun off its steel-making assets following the acquisition of Marathon Oil
in 1982. It is still the largest domestically owned integrated steel producer in the United States, although it produces only slightly more steel than it did in 1902.
U.S. Steel is a former Dow Jones Industrial Average
component, listed from April 1, 1901 to May 3, 1991. It was removed under its USX Corporation name with Navistar International
and Primerica Corporation.
and the attorney Elbert H. Gary
founded U.S. Steel in 1901 (incorporated on February 25) by combining Andrew Carnegie
's Carnegie Steel Company
with Gary's Federal Steel Company and William Henry "Judge" Moore
's National Steel Company for $492 million. It was capitalized at $1.4 billion, making it the world's first billion-dollar corporation. At one time, U.S. Steel was the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world. In 1907 it bought its largest competitor Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
which was headquartered in Birmingham
, Alabama
. This led to Tennessee Coal's being replaced in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
by the General Electric Company. The federal government
attempted to use federal antitrust laws
to break up U.S. Steel in 1911, but that effort ultimately failed. Time and competitors have, however, accomplished nearly the same thing. In its first full year of operation, U.S. Steel made 67 percent of all the steel produced in the United States. It now produces less than 10 percent.
The Corporation, as it was known on Wall Street
, always distinguished itself to investors by virtue of its size, rather than for its efficiency or creativeness during its heyday. In 1901, it controlled two-thirds of steel production. Because of heavy debts taken on at the company's formation — Carnegie insisted on being paid in gold bonds
for his stake — and fears of antitrust litigation, U.S. Steel moved cautiously. Competitors often innovated faster, especially Bethlehem Steel
, run by U.S. Steel's former first president, Charles M. Schwab
. U.S. Steel's share of the expanding market slipped to 50 percent by 1911.
U.S. Steel's production peaked at more than 35 million tons in 1953. Its employment was greatest in 1943 (during World War II
) when it had more than 340,000 employees; by 2000, however, it employed 52,500 people. The federal government has also intervened on other occasions to try to control U.S. Steel. President Harry S. Truman
attempted to take over its steel mill
s in 1952 to resolve a crisis with its union, the United Steelworkers of America. The Supreme Court of the United States
blocked the takeover by ruling that the president did not have the constitutional authority to seize the mills (see Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer
). President John F. Kennedy
was more successful in 1962 when he pressured the steel industry into reversing price increases that Kennedy considered dangerously inflationary. The federal government prevented U.S. Steel from acquiring National Steel
in 1984 and political pressure from the United States Congress
forced it to abandon plans to import British Steel
slabs. It finally acquired National Steel's assets in 2003 after National Steel went bankrupt. U.S. Steel acquired Marathon Oil in 1982, as well as Texas Oil & Gas several years later. It reorganized its holdings as USX Corporation in 1986, with U.S. Steel (renamed USS, Inc.,) as a major subsidiary.
At the end of the 20th century, the corporation found itself deriving much of its revenue and net income from its energy operations, so led by CEO Thomas Usher
, U.S. Steel spun off Marathon and other non-steel assets (except railroad company Transtar
) in October, 2001, and expanded internationally for the first time by purchasing operations in Slovakia
and Serbia
.
, which called for low wages and opposition to unionization. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers
union that represented workers at the Homestead
, Pennsylvania plant was, for many years, broken after a violent strike
in 1892. U.S. Steel defeated another strike
in 1901, the year it was founded. U.S. Steel built the city of Gary
, Indiana in 1906, and 100 years later it remained the location of the largest integrated steel mill in the Northern Hemisphere. U.S. Steel reached a détente with unions during World War I
, when under pressure from the Wilson Administration it relaxed its opposition to unions enough to allow some to operate in certain factories. It returned to its previous policies as soon as the war ended, however, and in a 1919 strike
defeated union-organizing efforts by William Z. Foster
of the AFL, later a leader of the Communist Party USA
.
During the 1920s, U.S. Steel, like many other large employers, coupled paternalistic employment practices with "employee representation plans" (ERPs), which were company unions sponsored by management. These ERPs eventually became an important factor leading to the organization of the United Steelworkers of America. The Company dropped its hard-line, anti-union stance in 1937, when Myron Taylor, then president of U.S. Steel, agreed to recognize the Steel Workers Organizing Committee
, an arm of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO) led by John L. Lewis
. Taylor was an outsider, brought in during the Great Depression
to rescue U.S. Steel, and had no emotional investment in the Company's long history of opposition to unions. Watching the upheaval caused by the United Auto Workers
' successful sit-down strike in Flint
, Michigan, and convinced that Lewis was someone he could deal with on a businesslike basis, Taylor sought stability through collective bargaining.
The Steelworkers continue to have a contentious relationship with U.S. Steel, but far less so than the relationship that other unions had with employers in other industries in the United States. They launched a number of long strikes against U.S. Steel in 1946 and a 116-day strike in 1959
, but those strikes were over wages and benefits and not the more fundamental issue of union recognition that led to violent strikes elsewhere.
The Steelworkers union attempted to mollify the problems of competitive foreign imports by entering into a so-called Experimental Negotiation Agreement (ENA) in 1974. This was to provide for arbitration
in the event that the parties were not able to reach agreement on any new collective bargaining agreements, thereby preventing disruptive strikes. The ENA failed to stop the decline of the steel industry in the U.S.
U.S. Steel and the other employers terminated the ENA in 1984. In 1986, U.S. Steel locked out thousands of its employees when it shut down a number of its facilities as a result of a drop in orders on the eve of a threatened strike. In addition, U.S. Steel and other steel producers demanded extensive concessions from their employees in the early 1980s through the direction of J. Bruce Johnston, U.S. Steel executive vice president. In a letter to striking employees in 1986, Johnston warned, "There are not enough seats in the steel lifeboat for everybody." In addition to reducing the role of unions, the steel industry had sought to induce the federal government to take action to counteract dumping of steel by foreign producers at below-market prices. Neither the concessions nor anti-dumping laws have restored the industry to the health and prestige it once had.
industrial effluent (air pollution) from the American Steel and Wire plant and U.S. Steel's Donora Zinc Works in Donora, Pennsylvania. "In three days, 20 people died... After the inversion lifted, another 50 died, including Lukasz Musial, the father of baseball great Stan Musial
. Hundreds more finished the rest of their lives with damaged lungs and hearts. But another 40 years would pass before the whole truth about Donora's bad air made public-health history." Today the town is home to the Donora Smog Museum which tells the impact of the Donora Smog on the air quality standards enacted by the federal government in subsequent years.
Researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute have ranked U.S. Steel as the eight-greatest corporate producer of air pollution
in the United States (down from their 2000 ranking as the second-greatest). In 2008, the company released more than one million kg (2.2 million pounds) of toxins, chiefly ammonia
, hydrochloric acid
, ethylene
, zinc
compounds, methanol
, and benzene
, but including manganese
, cyanide
, and chromium
compounds. In 2004, the city of River Rouge, Michigan
and the residents of River Rouge and the nearby city of Ecorse
filed a class-action lawsuit
against the company for "the release and discharge of air particulate matter...and other toxic and hazardous substances" at its River Rouge plant. In 2005, the Illinois Attorney General
brought suit against U.S. Steel for alleged air pollution in Granite City, Illinois
.
The Company has also been implicated in generating water pollution
and toxic waste
. In 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) issued an order for U.S. Steel to clean up a site in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania
, on the Delaware River
, where the soil had been contaminated with arsenic
, lead
, and other heavy metals
, as well as naphthalene
; groundwater at the site was found to be polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
and trichloroethylene
(TCE). In 2005, the EPA, United States Department of Justice
, and the State of Ohio
reached a settlement requiring U.S. Steel to pay more than $100,000 in penalties and $294,000 in reparations in answer to allegations that the company illegally released pollutants into Ohio waters. U.S. Steel's Gary, Indiana
facility has been repeatedly charged with discharging polluted wastewater into Lake Michigan
and the Grand Calumet River
, and in 1998 agreed to a $30 million settlement to clean up contaminated sediments from a five-mile (8 km) stretch of the river.
It should be noted, however, that with the exception of the Fairless Hills and Gary facilities, the lawsuits concern facilities acquired via U.S. Steel's purchase of National Steel Corporation
in 2003.
in Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
is named after the company and the company's offices take up a part of the building. It is the tallest skyscraper in the downtown Pittsburgh skyline.
The Pittsburgh Steelers
professional football team borrowed elements of its logo, a circle containing three hypocycloid
s, from the Steelmark
logo belonging to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and created by U.S. Steel. In the 1950s, when helmet logos became popular, the Steelers added players' numbers to either side of their gold helmets. Later that decade, the numbers were removed and in 1962, Cleveland's Republic Steel
suggested to the Steelers that they use the Steelmark as a helmet logo.
When the Steelmark logo was created, U.S. Steel attached the following meaning to it: Steel lightens your work, brightens your leisure and widens your world. The logo was used as part of a major marketing campaign to educate consumers about how important steel is in our daily lives. The Steelmark logo was used in print, radio and television ads as well as on labels for all steel products, from steel tanks to tricycles to filing cabinets.
In the 1960s, U.S. Steel turned over the Steelmark program to the AISI, where it came to represent the steel industry as a whole. During the 1970s, the logo's meaning was extended to include the three materials used to produce steel: yellow for coal, orange for ore and blue for steel scrap. In the late 1980s, when the AISI founded the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI), the logo took on a new life reminiscent of its 1950s meaning.
U.S. Steel financed and constructed the Unisphere
in Corona Park, Queens
, New York
for the 1964 World's Fair. It is the largest globe ever made and is one of the world's largest free standing sculptures.
The Chicago Picasso
sculpture was fabricated by U.S. Steel in Gary, Indiana before being disassembled and relocated to Chicago
U.S. Steel donated the steel for the Polish Cathedral
of St. Michael's in Chicago
since 90 percent of the parishioners worked at its mills
.
U.S. Steel sponsored The United States Steel Hour
television program on CBS.
U.S. Steel built Disney's Contemporary Resort
at Walt Disney World
.
In the film The Godfather Part II
, Hyman Roth
tells Michael Corleone
"Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel", which was a paraphrase of longtime Mob
kingpin Meyer Lansky
.
s four times each year, with checks for dividends declared on common stock mailed for receipt on the 10th of March, June, September and December. The dividend as of 2008 was $0.30 per share. On Apr. 27, 2009, it was reduced to $0.05 per share. Dividends may be paid by, mailed check, direct electronic deposit into a bank account, or be reinvested in additional shares of U.S. Steel common stock.
in operating the world's largest electro-galvanizing line, Double Eagle Steel Coating Company, at the historic Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan
.
U.S. Steel's largest domestic facility is Gary Works
, in Gary, Indiana
; Gary is also home to the U.S. Steel Yard
baseball stadium.
U.S. Steel operates a tin mill they acquired in East Chicago now known as E.C. Tin after L.T.V.
went bankrupt.
U.S. Steel operates a sheet and tin finishing facility in Portage, Indiana
. known as Midwest Plant acquired from the National Steel bankruptcy.
U.S. Steel operates Fairfield Works in Fairfield, Alabama
(Birmingham
), employing 1500 people, and still operates a sheet galvanizing operation at the Fairless Works facility in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania
, employing 75 people.
U.S. Steel acquired National Steel
and subsequently operates Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Michigan
, Midwest Plant in Portage, Indiana, and Granite City Steel in Granite City, Illinois
. In 2008 a major expansion of Granite City was announced, including a new coke plant with an annual capacity of 650,000 tons.
U.S. Steel operates five pipe mills: Fairfield Tubular Operations in Fairfield, Alabama
(Birmingham
), Lorain Tubular Operations in Lorain, Ohio
, McKeesport Tubular Operations, in McKeesport, PA, Texas Operations (Formerly Lone Star Steel) in Lone Star, TX, and Bellville Operations in Bellville, TX.
U.S. Steel operates two major taconite
mining and pelletizing operations in northeastern Minnesota's Iron Range
under the operating name Minnesota Ore Operations. The Minntac mine is located near Mountain Iron, Minnesota
and the Keetac mine is near Keewatin, Minnesota
. U.S. Steel announced on February 1, 2008 that it would be investing approximately $300 Million in upgrading the operations at Keetac, a facility purchased in 2003 from the now-defunct National Steel Corporation
.
U.S. Steel has completely closed two of its major integrated mills. The Duluth Works
in Duluth, Minnesota
closed in 1987, followed by South Chicago's South Works
in 1992.
Internationally, U.S. Steel operates facilities in Slovakia (former East Slovakian Iron Works in Košice
) and Serbia (former Sartid company with facilities in Smederevo
(steel plant, hot and cold mill) and Šabac
(tin mill).
Recently, U.S. Steel added facilities in Texas
with the purchase of Lone Star Steel Company
, entered a venture in Pittsburg, California
with POSCO
of South Korea
, and purchased Stelco
(now U.S. Steel Canada) to expand into the Canadian market, with works in Hamilton
and Nanticoke, Ontario
.
The company opened a new training facility, the Mon Valley Works Training Hub, in Duquesne, Pennsylvania in 2008. The state-of-the-art facility, located on a portion of the property once occupied by the company's Duquesne Works, serves as the primary training site for employees at U.S. Steel's three Pittsburgh-area Mon Valley Works locations. This site also served as the company's temporary technical support headquarters during the 2009 G20 Summit.
, and Keystone Cement in Bath, Pennsylvania
. By 1979 cement shipments had dropped off such that the railroad was no longer economically viable and the line was abandoned. A 1.5 kilometre (0.93205910497471 mi) section of track was retained to serve Atlas Cement. The remainder of the right-of-way was transformed into the Nor-Bath Trail.
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
producer with major production operations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
. The company is the world's tenth largest steel producer ranked by sales (see list of steel producers). It was renamed USX Corporation in 1991 and back to United States Steel Corporation in 2001 when the shareholders of USX spun off its steel-making assets following the acquisition of Marathon Oil
Marathon Oil
Marathon Oil Corporation is a United States-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Principal exploration activities are in the United States, Norway, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Canada. Principal development activities are in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway,...
in 1982. It is still the largest domestically owned integrated steel producer in the United States, although it produces only slightly more steel than it did in 1902.
U.S. Steel is a former Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index, and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow...
component, listed from April 1, 1901 to May 3, 1991. It was removed under its USX Corporation name with Navistar International
Navistar International
Navistar International Corporation is a United States-based holding company that owns the manufacturer of International brand commercial trucks, MaxxForce brand diesel engines, IC Bus school and commercial buses, Workhorse brand chassis for motor homes and step vans, and is a private label...
and Primerica Corporation.
History
J. P. MorganJ. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
and the attorney Elbert H. Gary
Elbert Henry Gary
Elbert Henry Gary was an American lawyer, county judge and corporate officer. He was a key founder of U.S. Steel in 1901, bringing together partners J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and Charles M. Schwab. The city of Gary, Indiana, a steel town, was named for him when it was founded in 1906...
founded U.S. Steel in 1901 (incorporated on February 25) by combining Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
's Carnegie Steel Company
Carnegie Steel Company
Carnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company created by Andrew Carnegie to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century.-Creation:...
with Gary's Federal Steel Company and William Henry "Judge" Moore
William Henry "Judge" Moore
William Henry Moore was an attorney and financier. He organized and promoted or sat as a director for several steel companies that were merged with among others the Carnegie Steel Company to create United States Steel...
's National Steel Company for $492 million. It was capitalized at $1.4 billion, making it the world's first billion-dollar corporation. At one time, U.S. Steel was the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world. In 1907 it bought its largest competitor Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company , also known as TCI and the Tennessee Company, was a major American steel manufacturer with interests in coal and iron ore mining and railroad operations. Originally based entirely within Tennessee, it relocated most of its business to Alabama in the...
which was headquartered in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. This led to Tennessee Coal's being replaced in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index, and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow...
by the General Electric Company. The federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
attempted to use federal antitrust laws
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
to break up U.S. Steel in 1911, but that effort ultimately failed. Time and competitors have, however, accomplished nearly the same thing. In its first full year of operation, U.S. Steel made 67 percent of all the steel produced in the United States. It now produces less than 10 percent.
The Corporation, as it was known on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, always distinguished itself to investors by virtue of its size, rather than for its efficiency or creativeness during its heyday. In 1901, it controlled two-thirds of steel production. Because of heavy debts taken on at the company's formation — Carnegie insisted on being paid in gold bonds
Gold certificate
A gold certificate in general is a certificate of ownership that gold owners hold instead of storing the actual gold. It has both a historic meaning as a US paper currency and a current meaning as a way to invest in gold....
for his stake — and fears of antitrust litigation, U.S. Steel moved cautiously. Competitors often innovated faster, especially Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...
, run by U.S. Steel's former first president, Charles M. Schwab
Charles M. Schwab
Charles Michael Schwab was an American steel magnate. Under his leadership, Bethlehem Steel became the second largest steel maker in the United States, and one of the most important heavy manufacturers in the world....
. U.S. Steel's share of the expanding market slipped to 50 percent by 1911.
U.S. Steel's production peaked at more than 35 million tons in 1953. Its employment was greatest in 1943 (during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
) when it had more than 340,000 employees; by 2000, however, it employed 52,500 people. The federal government has also intervened on other occasions to try to control U.S. Steel. President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
attempted to take over its steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
s in 1952 to resolve a crisis with its union, the United Steelworkers of America. The Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
blocked the takeover by ruling that the president did not have the constitutional authority to seize the mills (see Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, , also commonly referred to as The Steel Seizure Case, was a United States Supreme Court decision that limited the power of the President of the United States to seize private property in the absence of either specifically enumerated authority under Article...
). President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
was more successful in 1962 when he pressured the steel industry into reversing price increases that Kennedy considered dangerously inflationary. The federal government prevented U.S. Steel from acquiring National Steel
National Steel Corporation
The National Steel Corporation was a major American steel producer. It was founded in 1929 through a merger arranged by Weirton Steel with some properties of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation and M.A. Hanna Company. Despite a difficult market in Depression-setting 1930, the company reported USD...
in 1984 and political pressure from the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
forced it to abandon plans to import British Steel
British Steel
British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated as a nationalised industry, the British Steel Corporation , formed in 1967. This was converted to a public limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
slabs. It finally acquired National Steel's assets in 2003 after National Steel went bankrupt. U.S. Steel acquired Marathon Oil in 1982, as well as Texas Oil & Gas several years later. It reorganized its holdings as USX Corporation in 1986, with U.S. Steel (renamed USS, Inc.,) as a major subsidiary.
At the end of the 20th century, the corporation found itself deriving much of its revenue and net income from its energy operations, so led by CEO Thomas Usher
Thomas Usher
Thomas J. Usher is an American business executive that has served as the President, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Steel. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Marathon Oil, the International Iron and Steel Institute, and the US-Korea Business...
, U.S. Steel spun off Marathon and other non-steel assets (except railroad company Transtar
Transtar, Inc.
Transtar, Inc. is a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation. It was organized in 1988 to own U.S. Steel's railroad and other transportation subsidiaries.Transtar owns or has owned the following companies:...
) in October, 2001, and expanded internationally for the first time by purchasing operations in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
Labor
U.S. Steel maintained the labor policies of Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, which called for low wages and opposition to unionization. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers was an American labor union formed in 1876 and which represented iron and steel workers. It partnered with the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, CIO, in November, 1935...
union that represented workers at the Homestead
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...
, Pennsylvania plant was, for many years, broken after a violent strike
Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. It was one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history...
in 1892. U.S. Steel defeated another strike
U.S. Steel Recognition Strike of 1901
The U.S. Steel Recognition Strike of 1901 was an attempt by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers to reverse its declining fortunes and organize large numbers of new members. The strike failed....
in 1901, the year it was founded. U.S. Steel built the city of Gary
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
, Indiana in 1906, and 100 years later it remained the location of the largest integrated steel mill in the Northern Hemisphere. U.S. Steel reached a détente with unions during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when under pressure from the Wilson Administration it relaxed its opposition to unions enough to allow some to operate in certain factories. It returned to its previous policies as soon as the war ended, however, and in a 1919 strike
Steel strike of 1919
The Steel Strike of 1919 was an attempt by the weakened Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers to organize the United States steel industry in the wake of World War I. The strike began on September 22, 1919, and collapsed on January 8, 1920.The AA had formed in 1876. It was a...
defeated union-organizing efforts by William Z. Foster
William Z. Foster
William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...
of the AFL, later a leader of the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
.
During the 1920s, U.S. Steel, like many other large employers, coupled paternalistic employment practices with "employee representation plans" (ERPs), which were company unions sponsored by management. These ERPs eventually became an important factor leading to the organization of the United Steelworkers of America. The Company dropped its hard-line, anti-union stance in 1937, when Myron Taylor, then president of U.S. Steel, agreed to recognize the Steel Workers Organizing Committee
Steel Workers Organizing Committee
The Steel Workers Organizing Committee was one of two precursor labor organizations to the United Steelworkers. It was formed by the CIO in 1936. It disbanded in 1942 to become the United Steel Workers of America....
, an arm of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
(CIO) led by John L. Lewis
John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
. Taylor was an outsider, brought in during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
to rescue U.S. Steel, and had no emotional investment in the Company's long history of opposition to unions. Watching the upheaval caused by the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
' successful sit-down strike in Flint
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
, Michigan, and convinced that Lewis was someone he could deal with on a businesslike basis, Taylor sought stability through collective bargaining.
The Steelworkers continue to have a contentious relationship with U.S. Steel, but far less so than the relationship that other unions had with employers in other industries in the United States. They launched a number of long strikes against U.S. Steel in 1946 and a 116-day strike in 1959
Steel strike of 1959
The steel strike of 1959 was a 1959 labor union strike by the United Steelworkers of America against major steel-making companies in the United States....
, but those strikes were over wages and benefits and not the more fundamental issue of union recognition that led to violent strikes elsewhere.
The Steelworkers union attempted to mollify the problems of competitive foreign imports by entering into a so-called Experimental Negotiation Agreement (ENA) in 1974. This was to provide for arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
in the event that the parties were not able to reach agreement on any new collective bargaining agreements, thereby preventing disruptive strikes. The ENA failed to stop the decline of the steel industry in the U.S.
U.S. Steel and the other employers terminated the ENA in 1984. In 1986, U.S. Steel locked out thousands of its employees when it shut down a number of its facilities as a result of a drop in orders on the eve of a threatened strike. In addition, U.S. Steel and other steel producers demanded extensive concessions from their employees in the early 1980s through the direction of J. Bruce Johnston, U.S. Steel executive vice president. In a letter to striking employees in 1986, Johnston warned, "There are not enough seats in the steel lifeboat for everybody." In addition to reducing the role of unions, the steel industry had sought to induce the federal government to take action to counteract dumping of steel by foreign producers at below-market prices. Neither the concessions nor anti-dumping laws have restored the industry to the health and prestige it once had.
Environmental record
Between October 26 and October 31, 1948 an air inversion trappedDonora Smog of 1948
The 1948 Donora smog was a historic air inversion resulting in a wall of smog that killed 20 people and sickened 7,000 more in Donora, Pennsylvania, a mill town on the Monongahela River, southeast of Pittsburgh.-The incident:...
industrial effluent (air pollution) from the American Steel and Wire plant and U.S. Steel's Donora Zinc Works in Donora, Pennsylvania. "In three days, 20 people died... After the inversion lifted, another 50 died, including Lukasz Musial, the father of baseball great Stan Musial
Stan Musial
Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals . Nicknamed "Stan the Man", Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection , and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball...
. Hundreds more finished the rest of their lives with damaged lungs and hearts. But another 40 years would pass before the whole truth about Donora's bad air made public-health history." Today the town is home to the Donora Smog Museum which tells the impact of the Donora Smog on the air quality standards enacted by the federal government in subsequent years.
Researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute have ranked U.S. Steel as the eight-greatest corporate producer of air pollution
Air pollution
Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....
in the United States (down from their 2000 ranking as the second-greatest). In 2008, the company released more than one million kg (2.2 million pounds) of toxins, chiefly ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
, hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....
, ethylene
Ethylene
Ethylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest alkene . Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is classified as an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Ethylene is widely used in industry and is also a plant hormone...
, zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
compounds, methanol
Methanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...
, and benzene
Benzene
Benzene is an organic chemical compound. It is composed of 6 carbon atoms in a ring, with 1 hydrogen atom attached to each carbon atom, with the molecular formula C6H6....
, but including manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
, cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
, and chromium
Chromium
Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...
compounds. In 2004, the city of River Rouge, Michigan
River Rouge, Michigan
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,917 people, 3,640 households, and 2,504 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,713.9 per square mile . There were 4,080 housing units at an average density of 1,528.0 per square mile...
and the residents of River Rouge and the nearby city of Ecorse
Ecorse, Michigan
Ecorse is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan, named for the Ecorse River. The population was 9,512 at the 2010 census.-History:...
filed a class-action lawsuit
Class action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
against the company for "the release and discharge of air particulate matter...and other toxic and hazardous substances" at its River Rouge plant. In 2005, the Illinois Attorney General
Illinois Attorney General
The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by election through universal suffrage...
brought suit against U.S. Steel for alleged air pollution in Granite City, Illinois
Granite City, Illinois
Granite City is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. At the 2010 census, the population was 29,849, making it the third largest city in the Metro-East and Southern Illinois, behind Alton and Belleville...
.
The Company has also been implicated in generating water pollution
Water pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....
and toxic waste
Toxic waste
Toxic waste is waste material that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It spreads quite easily and can contaminate lakes and rivers. The term is often used interchangeably with “hazardous waste”, or discarded material that can pose a long-term risk to health or environment.Toxic waste...
. In 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
(EPA) issued an order for U.S. Steel to clean up a site in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania
Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania
Fairless Hills is a census-designated place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,466 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, on the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, where the soil had been contaminated with arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
, lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
, and other heavy metals
Heavy metals
A heavy metal is a member of a loosely-defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties. It mainly includes the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides, and actinides. Many different definitions have been proposed—some based on density, some on atomic number or atomic weight,...
, as well as naphthalene
Naphthalene
Naphthalene is an organic compound with formula . It is a white crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 ppm by mass. As an aromatic hydrocarbon, naphthalene's structure consists of a fused pair of benzene rings...
; groundwater at the site was found to be polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , also known as poly-aromatic hydrocarbons or polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, are potent atmospheric pollutants that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents. Naphthalene is the simplest example of a PAH...
and trichloroethylene
Trichloroethylene
The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a chlorinated hydrocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear non-flammable liquid with a sweet smell. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, which is commonly known as chlorothene.The IUPAC name is...
(TCE). In 2005, the EPA, United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, and the State of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
reached a settlement requiring U.S. Steel to pay more than $100,000 in penalties and $294,000 in reparations in answer to allegations that the company illegally released pollutants into Ohio waters. U.S. Steel's Gary, Indiana
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
facility has been repeatedly charged with discharging polluted wastewater into Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
and the Grand Calumet River
Calumet River
The Calumet River refers to a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the neighborhood of South Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana.-Background:...
, and in 1998 agreed to a $30 million settlement to clean up contaminated sediments from a five-mile (8 km) stretch of the river.
It should be noted, however, that with the exception of the Fairless Hills and Gary facilities, the lawsuits concern facilities acquired via U.S. Steel's purchase of National Steel Corporation
National Steel Corporation
The National Steel Corporation was a major American steel producer. It was founded in 1929 through a merger arranged by Weirton Steel with some properties of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation and M.A. Hanna Company. Despite a difficult market in Depression-setting 1930, the company reported USD...
in 2003.
Legacy
The U.S. Steel TowerU.S. Steel Tower
U.S. Steel Tower, also known as the Steel Building , is the tallest skyscraper in Pittsburgh, the fourth tallest building in Pennsylvania, and the 37th tallest in the United States. Completed in 1970, the tower has 64 floors to and has of leasable space. Its original name was the U.S. Steel...
in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
is named after the company and the company's offices take up a part of the building. It is the tallest skyscraper in the downtown Pittsburgh skyline.
The Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
professional football team borrowed elements of its logo, a circle containing three hypocycloid
Hypocycloid
In geometry, a hypocycloid is a special plane curve generated by the trace of a fixed point on a small circle that rolls within a larger circle...
s, from the Steelmark
Steelmark
The Steelmark is a logo representing steel and the steel industry owned by the American Iron and Steel Institute, and used by it to promote the product and its manufacturers....
logo belonging to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and created by U.S. Steel. In the 1950s, when helmet logos became popular, the Steelers added players' numbers to either side of their gold helmets. Later that decade, the numbers were removed and in 1962, Cleveland's Republic Steel
Republic Steel
Republic Steel was once the third largest steel producer in the United States.The Republic Iron and Steel Company was founded in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899....
suggested to the Steelers that they use the Steelmark as a helmet logo.
When the Steelmark logo was created, U.S. Steel attached the following meaning to it: Steel lightens your work, brightens your leisure and widens your world. The logo was used as part of a major marketing campaign to educate consumers about how important steel is in our daily lives. The Steelmark logo was used in print, radio and television ads as well as on labels for all steel products, from steel tanks to tricycles to filing cabinets.
In the 1960s, U.S. Steel turned over the Steelmark program to the AISI, where it came to represent the steel industry as a whole. During the 1970s, the logo's meaning was extended to include the three materials used to produce steel: yellow for coal, orange for ore and blue for steel scrap. In the late 1980s, when the AISI founded the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI), the logo took on a new life reminiscent of its 1950s meaning.
U.S. Steel financed and constructed the Unisphere
Unisphere
The Unisphere is a 12-story high, spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth. Located in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park in the borough of Queens, New York City, the Unisphere is one of the borough's most iconic and enduring symbols....
in Corona Park, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for the 1964 World's Fair. It is the largest globe ever made and is one of the world's largest free standing sculptures.
The Chicago Picasso
Chicago Picasso
The Chicago Picasso is an untitled monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso in Chicago, Illinois. The sculpture, dedicated on August 15, 1967, in Daley Plaza in the Chicago Loop, is tall and weighs 162 tons...
sculpture was fabricated by U.S. Steel in Gary, Indiana before being disassembled and relocated to Chicago
U.S. Steel donated the steel for the Polish Cathedral
Polish Cathedral style
The Polish Cathedral architectural style is a North American genre of Catholic church architecture found throughout the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic regions as well as in parts of New England...
of St. Michael's in Chicago
St. Michael's in Chicago
St. Michael - historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago located at E. 83rd Street and S. South Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois....
since 90 percent of the parishioners worked at its mills
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
.
U.S. Steel sponsored The United States Steel Hour
The United States Steel Hour
The United States Steel Hour is an anthology series which brought hour-long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation....
television program on CBS.
U.S. Steel built Disney's Contemporary Resort
Disney's Contemporary Resort
Disney's Contemporary Resort is a deluxe resort at the Walt Disney World Resort. It opened on October 1, 1971...
at Walt Disney World
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
.
In the film The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
, Hyman Roth
Hyman Roth
Hyman Roth is a fictional character, and the primary antagonist in The Godfather Part II, played by the actor and acting teacher Lee Strasberg, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role...
tells Michael Corleone
Michael Corleone
Michael Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novels, The Godfather and The Sicilian. He is also the main character of the Godfather film trilogy that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in which he was portrayed by Al Pacino, who was twice nominated for an Academy Award for his...
"Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel", which was a paraphrase of longtime Mob
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
kingpin Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...
.
Dividends
It is the present policy of the Board of Directors to consider the declaration of dividendDividend
Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
s four times each year, with checks for dividends declared on common stock mailed for receipt on the 10th of March, June, September and December. The dividend as of 2008 was $0.30 per share. On Apr. 27, 2009, it was reduced to $0.05 per share. Dividends may be paid by, mailed check, direct electronic deposit into a bank account, or be reinvested in additional shares of U.S. Steel common stock.
Facilities
U.S. Steel has multiple domestic and international facilities. Of note in the United States is Clairton Works and Edgar Thomson Works, both members of Mon Valley Works and just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Clairton Works is the largest coking facility in North America. Edgar Thomson Works is one of the oldest steel mills in the world. The Company acquired Great Lakes Works and Granite City Works, both large integrated steel mills, in 2003 and is partnered with Severstal North AmericaSeverstal North America
Severstal North America is a subsidiary of the Russian Severstal Group which operates an integrated steel mill Severstal Dearborn located at the Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan. The Severstal Dearborn facility was formerly known as Rouge Steel....
in operating the world's largest electro-galvanizing line, Double Eagle Steel Coating Company, at the historic Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
.
U.S. Steel's largest domestic facility is Gary Works
Gary Works
The Gary Works is a very large steel mill in Gary, Indiana, on the shore of Lake Michigan. For many years, the Gary Works was the world's largest steel mill, and it remains the largest integrated mill in North America....
, in Gary, Indiana
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
; Gary is also home to the U.S. Steel Yard
U.S. Steel Yard
U.S. Steel Yard is an open-air baseball stadium located in Gary, Indiana next to I-90. It is home to the Gary SouthShore RailCats, a professional baseball team and member of the American Association. It seats 6,139 people. It also hosts many Little League Baseball games as well as high school...
baseball stadium.
U.S. Steel operates a tin mill they acquired in East Chicago now known as E.C. Tin after L.T.V.
Ling-Temco-Vought
Ling-Temco-Vought was a large U.S. conglomerate which existed from 1969 to 2000. At its peak, its component parts were involved in the aerospace industry, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, the airline industry, meat packing, car rentals and pharmaceuticals, among other...
went bankrupt.
U.S. Steel operates a sheet and tin finishing facility in Portage, Indiana
Portage, Indiana
Portage is a city in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,828 as of the 2010 census. It is the largest city in Porter County, and third largest in Northwest Indiana.-Geography:...
. known as Midwest Plant acquired from the National Steel bankruptcy.
U.S. Steel operates Fairfield Works in Fairfield, Alabama
Fairfield, Alabama
Fairfield is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover Metropolitan Area. The population was 12,381 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, the Census estimates the population to be 11,547.-History:...
(Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
), employing 1500 people, and still operates a sheet galvanizing operation at the Fairless Works facility in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania
Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania
Fairless Hills is a census-designated place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,466 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, employing 75 people.
U.S. Steel acquired National Steel
National Steel
National Steel has several meanings:* National Steel , a defunct steel production company in the United States* National Steel Company , part of the 1901 merger that created U.S...
and subsequently operates Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Michigan
Ecorse, Michigan
Ecorse is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan, named for the Ecorse River. The population was 9,512 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, Midwest Plant in Portage, Indiana, and Granite City Steel in Granite City, Illinois
Granite City, Illinois
Granite City is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. At the 2010 census, the population was 29,849, making it the third largest city in the Metro-East and Southern Illinois, behind Alton and Belleville...
. In 2008 a major expansion of Granite City was announced, including a new coke plant with an annual capacity of 650,000 tons.
U.S. Steel operates five pipe mills: Fairfield Tubular Operations in Fairfield, Alabama
Fairfield, Alabama
Fairfield is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover Metropolitan Area. The population was 12,381 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, the Census estimates the population to be 11,547.-History:...
(Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
), Lorain Tubular Operations in Lorain, Ohio
Lorain, Ohio
Lorain is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River, about 30 miles west of Cleveland....
, McKeesport Tubular Operations, in McKeesport, PA, Texas Operations (Formerly Lone Star Steel) in Lone Star, TX, and Bellville Operations in Bellville, TX.
U.S. Steel operates two major taconite
Taconite
Taconite is a variety of iron formation, an iron-bearing sedimentary rock, in which the iron minerals are interlayered with quartz, chert, or carbonate...
mining and pelletizing operations in northeastern Minnesota's Iron Range
Iron Range
The Iron Range is a region that makes up the northeastern section of Minnesota in the United States. "The Range", as it is known by locals, is a region with multiple distinct bands of iron ore...
under the operating name Minnesota Ore Operations. The Minntac mine is located near Mountain Iron, Minnesota
Mountain Iron, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,999 people, 1,326 households, and 847 families residing in the city. The population density was 60.7 people per square mile . There were 1,409 housing units at an average density of 28.5 per square mile...
and the Keetac mine is near Keewatin, Minnesota
Keewatin, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,164 people, 522 households, and 306 families residing in the city. The population density was 473.7 people per square mile . There were 550 housing units at an average density of 223.8 per square mile...
. U.S. Steel announced on February 1, 2008 that it would be investing approximately $300 Million in upgrading the operations at Keetac, a facility purchased in 2003 from the now-defunct National Steel Corporation
National Steel Corporation
The National Steel Corporation was a major American steel producer. It was founded in 1929 through a merger arranged by Weirton Steel with some properties of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation and M.A. Hanna Company. Despite a difficult market in Depression-setting 1930, the company reported USD...
.
U.S. Steel has completely closed two of its major integrated mills. The Duluth Works
Duluth Works
The Duluth Works was an industrial steel and cement manufacturing complex located in Duluth, Minnesota, in operation 1915 to 1987. The complex was operated by the United States Steel Corporation. Officially, the plant's purpose was to supply the growing Midwest with steel finished products....
in Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
closed in 1987, followed by South Chicago's South Works
South Works
South Works is an area in South Chicago, Chicago near the mouth of the Calumet River that was previously home to a US Steel facility and is presently vacant.-Steel works:...
in 1992.
Internationally, U.S. Steel operates facilities in Slovakia (former East Slovakian Iron Works in Košice
Košice
Košice is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary...
) and Serbia (former Sartid company with facilities in Smederevo
Smederevo
Smederevo is a city and municipality in Serbia, on the right bank of the Danube, about 40 km downstream of the capital Belgrade. According to official results of the 2011 census, the city has a population of 107,528...
(steel plant, hot and cold mill) and Šabac
Šabac
Šabac is a city and municipality in western Serbia, along the Sava river, in the historic region of Mačva. It is the administrative center of the Mačva District. The city has a population of 52,822 , while population of the municipality is 115,347...
(tin mill).
Recently, U.S. Steel added facilities in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
with the purchase of Lone Star Steel Company
Lone Star Steel Company
The Lone Star Steel Companywas a company based in Lone Star, Texas. It specialized in making tubular steel with outer diameters ranging from 16 inches to 1.415 inches.The founder and first president of the company was John W...
, entered a venture in Pittsburg, California
Pittsburg, California
Pittsburg is a city located in eastern Contra Costa County, California, the outer portion of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 63,264 at the 2010 census....
with POSCO
POSCO
POSCO is a multinational steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It is the world's third-largest steelmaker by market value and the most profitable Asia-based steelmaker....
of South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, and purchased Stelco
Stelco
US Steel Canada is a steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.-History:Several existing smaller steelworks combined and were incorporated as the Steel Company of Canada in 1910. Charles S...
(now U.S. Steel Canada) to expand into the Canadian market, with works in Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
and Nanticoke, Ontario
Nanticoke, Ontario
Nanticoke is an unincorporated community and former city located on the western border of Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada. It is southeast of Simcoe in neighbouring Norfolk County and south of Brantford...
.
The company opened a new training facility, the Mon Valley Works Training Hub, in Duquesne, Pennsylvania in 2008. The state-of-the-art facility, located on a portion of the property once occupied by the company's Duquesne Works, serves as the primary training site for employees at U.S. Steel's three Pittsburgh-area Mon Valley Works locations. This site also served as the company's temporary technical support headquarters during the 2009 G20 Summit.
Northampton & Bath Railroad
U.S. Steel once owned the Northampton & Bath Railroad. The N&B was an 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) short line railroad built in 1904 that served Atlas Cement in Northampton, PennsylvaniaNorthampton, Pennsylvania
Northampton is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The borough is located in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania...
, and Keystone Cement in Bath, Pennsylvania
Bath, Pennsylvania
Bath is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is named for Bath, Somerset, England. It is located in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The population of Bath was 2,693 at the 2010 census.-History:...
. By 1979 cement shipments had dropped off such that the railroad was no longer economically viable and the line was abandoned. A 1.5 kilometre (0.93205910497471 mi) section of track was retained to serve Atlas Cement. The remainder of the right-of-way was transformed into the Nor-Bath Trail.
External links
- U.S. Steel
- United Steelworkers
- Yahoo! — United States Steel Corporation Company Profile
- Documentary Photographs of U.S. Steel from the 1940s and 1950s
- U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection, 1906-1971
- U.S. Steel Movie clip of the Contemporary Resort Construction, compliments of BigFloridaCountry.com
- BigFloridaCountry
- The "World's Largest Plate Mill," formerly a part of U.S. Steel-Gary Works
- River Rouge Class Action Litigation Update
- History of the United States Steel Corporation, 1873-2011