With a strike vote authorized by Steelworkers at Arcelor Mittal’s Minorca mine near Virginia, Minn., we now learn that Cleveland Cliffs is negotiating with Steelworkers over soon-to-expire contracts at that company’s Hibbing Taconite and United Taconite (Eveleth) mines. The big sticking point is health care. That problem will never go away until the system is overhauled comprehensively. These are the last three big mines on the Iron Range facing contract negotiations for this cycle.
Nothing stirs things up around here like a mine strike. With steel prices still riding high (though not quite as high as they were earlier in the year) I expect these contracts will be settled. But the next one could be a doozy. Let me predict the sticking point: health care.
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