Nippon Steel announced Tuesday a commitment to reward United States Steel Corporation (U. S. Steel) employees with a $5,000 closing bonus if a proposed merger between the two companies is completed.
The company stated that eligible non-union employees in the United States below the Senior Manager level would receive the bonus.
“We want to thank all of U. S. Steel’s employees for their continued hard work. Our goal is to protect and grow U. S. Steel, and its people are the most important asset in achieving this goal,” said Takahiro Mori, representative director and vice chairman of Nippon Steel. “We hope that this bonus demonstrates Nippon Steel’s long-term commitment to sharing the success of U. S. Steel and providing a more secure future for employees, their families, and communities.”
“After closing, we look forward to working with all stakeholders to grow U. S. Steel into the best steel company in the United States for decades,” Mori added.
The bonus announcement comes on the heels of recent efforts Nippon has made to appeal to U.S. workers and politicians in its bid to buy out U. S. Steel.
After a recent meeting with United Steelworkers leaders, Nippon sent a letter on Monday to U. S. Steel staff highlighting that it made “new commitments with regards to where and when a previously announced $1.4 billion capital expenditure commitment would be spent,” according to Bloomberg News. The figure doesn’t include maintenance or depreciation, Nippon said.
Representatives of the company also had “constructive dialogue” with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as the commonwealth has been the center of a concentrated political outcry about the deal and what it means for steelmaking in the region.
As a national security review of the $15 billion merger is still ongoing, President Joe Biden has stated that he will wait to make his decision on whether to block the deal, the White House said, adding that the president still opposes the transaction.
The statement followed a Bloomberg News report that initially stated that Biden was set to block the deal, suggesting that a final decision had been made by the Biden administration on the matter. U. S. Steel shares fell 10 percent after the headline was published.
President-Elect Donald Trump also has stated that he would block the Nippon-U.S. Steel merger from happening.