Read our editorial on the significance of strikes here.
450 steelworkers have been on strike against ArcelorMittal in Shelby, Ohio since walking off the job January 13 in protest of proposed cuts to hours, wages, and healthcare benefits.
The workers, represented by United Steelworkers (USW) Local 3057, have been in negotiations with the monopoly since September. Steelworkers were forced to work under the extension of the previous contract after it expired October 31.
Currently, workers work 7 days a week and are paid 1.5 times their wages on Saturdays and twice their wages on Sundays. The company has proposed to reduce work hours and overtime pay, pushing workers to do the same amount of work in a shorter period of time with less pay. ArcelorMittal is also threatening to eliminate healthcare benefits for workers’ spouses.
Workers at the Shelby plant produce steel tubing used in the automotive industry, as well as in agricultural, industrial, and construction machinery. As these industries are hit by the deepening crisis of overproduction, steel monopolies face declining rates of profitability and attempt to dig themselves out by cutting wages and intensifying work.
The Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal has faced declining profitability over the past few years and sold most of its US assets to steel monopoly Cleveland Cliff in 2020, aside from a handful of plants including the Shelby location. Cleveland Cliff’s profitability has also taken a hit, reporting a net loss of $234 million for the third quarter of 2025.
Cleveland Cliff CEO Lourenco Goncalves, USW President David McCall, and former President Biden worked together to block Japanese monopoly Nippon Steel purchasing US Steel last year, aiming to protect the position of US monopolies. This has since been reversed by the Trump administration in exchange for veto privileges on a range of company decisions, despite his chauvinistic rhetoric to block the sale in his electoral campaign.
Photo: United Steelworkers (USW) Local 3057 on strike. Photo retrieved from Facebook.
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