U.S. Steel reaches deal with miners; no agreement yet at 2 other companies

Union office
United Steelworkers union locations in Chisholm, Mountain Iron and Eveleth were closed Thursday evening as the United Steelworkers union continued negotiations on a new labor agreement before their contracts expired. Here, the United Steelworkers union location in Eveleth was silent Thursday evening.
Derek Montgomery for MPR

U.S. Steel Corp. said Sunday it has reached an agreement with the United Steelworkers union at MinnTac in Mountain Iron and KeeTac in Keewatin.

U.S. Steel and the steelworkers union tentatively agreed on a three-year contract, which would cover 1,300 employees in Minnesota. Their previous contract expired Saturday night.

Neither side provided details of the contract, although in a statement United Steelworkers vice president Tom Conway said they reached a solution to provide retirees with high-quality, low-cost health care. The statement said union members will vote on the agreement in the next few weeks.

Negotiations are still ongoing at ArcelorMittal, where a contract deadline passed Saturday night. About 300 of the company's unionized employees were continuing to work.

Negotiations at a third company -- Cliffs Natural Resources -- broke off Friday night, but the two sides agreed to keep operating under the existing contract in 48-hour intervals that automatically renew unless one side signals otherwise. Cliffs has nearly 1,100 employees at Hibbing Taconite and United Taconite in Eveleth.

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