Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Friday, Aug. 15. TGIF!
The UAW's protest on Thursday at the iconic Rouge Steel complex owned by Cleveland-Cliffs raised some eyebrows.
UAW President Shawn Fain held a rally to "save" the steel plant near Detroit after owner Cleveland-Cliffs idled some operations and laid off 600 workers earlier this summer, Automotive News affiliate Crain's Detroit Business reported. The UAW demanded that the company live up to its previous commitment to invest $300 million into the operations.
But Cleveland-Cliffs' outspoken CEO Lourenco Goncalves quickly called out the UAW and Fain and basically told them they're barking up the wrong tree.
He told Crain's reporter Kurt Nagl the UAW's claims that Cleveland-Cliffs is failing to make good on investment commitments are untrue. In the first year of the four-year contract, the steelmaker has invested $125.6 million in maintenance and repair, and it fully intends to meet the commitment, he said.
"I have no idea why they had to do a rally for that," Goncalves said.
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While there is no such thing as a union-friendly CEO, Goncalves and Cleveland-Cliffs have long-standing relationships with organized labor.
First of all, Cleveland-Cliffs strongly supports labor-friendly tariffs on foreign steel to incentivize union hiring at U.S. plants.
And over the last few years, Goncalves and Cleveland-Cliffs were closely aligned with the United Steelworkers in opposing the ultimately successful Nippon Steel purchase of U.S. Steel. Cleveland-Cliffs and the Steelworkers union were so entangled in the bid that Nippon later sued them both, alleging they engaged in anticompetitive actions to block Nippon's deal and monopolize the U.S. steel market.
So it's no wonder Goncalves called out the UAW on this protest. Now he'll need to deliver the goods, assuming he gets enough automotive business to move ahead.
Ironically, a report emerged this afternoon suggesting that new automotive business is indeed coming. Bloomberg reported that Cleveland-Cliffs inked a multiyear steel supply deal with General Motors and other domestic automakers.
In other news, our latest dealership buy-sell roundup features public auto retailer Asbury Automotive Group Inc.'s mega $1.45 billion acquisition of Herb Chambers Cos., an AutoCanada Inc. U.S. divestiture and transactions involving two other top 150 dealership groups.
We also have several stories from events this week at Monterey Car Week in California.
Have a great weekend! If you want to see this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
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