Stelco Workers Begin Receiving Layoff Notices As Job Cuts Begin Oct. 11

Workers at Stelco’s steel plant in Hamilton, Ont., have begun receiving layoff notices as the company prepares to idle operations, with more expected before the weekend, according to their union.

Some workers received notices on Oct. 7 telling them not to return for their next scheduled shift, Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, said in a statement to media on Oct. 8.

Wells said roughly 90 workers will likely receive notices this week, with the first layoffs taking effect on Oct. 11. He said that the cuts are expected to unfold over three weeks as the American-owned company idles operations at the plant.

About 330 workers at the Hamilton plant are expected to be affected, Wells said. Additional cuts will include co-op workers and employees in pickling operations at Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ont.

The company describes the cuts as indefinite layoffs, while the union is treating them as temporary under the collective bargaining agreement, Wells said.

Stelco’s Ohio-based owner, Cleveland-Cliffs, announced last week that it planned to lay off up to 500 workers across its Hamilton and Lake Erie facilities, citing the ongoing Canada-U.S. trade dispute, weak demand, and continued import pressure.

Industry Minister Mélanie Jolie wrote to Stelco President Paul Simon on Oct. 5, expressing her “extreme disappointment” over the planned layoffs associated with the indefinite idling of finishing operations at the Hamilton plant.

Joly said the proposed layoffs would violate binding employment commitments that Cleveland-Cliffs made when Ottawa approved its $3.4 billion acquisition of Stelco in 2024 under the Investment Canada Act.

She said five-year commitments include maintaining “at least the same number of unionized employees and the vast majority of non-unionized employees” as when the transaction was announced.

Joly gave Cleveland-Cliffs five business days to submit a plan explaining how it would comply with its commitments; warning that Ottawa could seek court orders to enforce the commitments otherwise.

The Epoch Times reached out to Stelco for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Goncalves told CBC in a Sept. 30 interview that he had the right to idle operations and lay off workers at Stelco’s Hamilton plant, after Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government would use “all powers that we have” to hold the company to its commitments.

Goncalves said that Cleveland-Cliffs’ purchase of Stelco in 2024—when the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement was in place—was predicated on being able to freely sell steel produced in Hamilton to buyers in the United States.

He said the deal included maintaining “significant employment levels in Canada” and “significant operations in Hamilton,” but argued that the Canada-U.S. trade dispute had changed the company’s ability to sell steel in the United States.

“I would not have acquired Stelco if I knew that Canada and the United States would become what they became: enemies in trade,” Goncalves said.

Washington has imposed 50 percent tariffs on steel imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, while Ottawa responded with its own duties on many U.S.-made steel products.

Goncalves said he believed he was acting within the “boundaries of what I can do as a responsible business owner,” and that he would respond to Carney in court if Ottawa sued.

Carney had said the federal government could offer financial assistance to companies like Stelco to help blunt the effect of the trade dispute with the United States. Goncalves argued the issue was not a “lack of money,” but Canada-U.S. trade uncertainty.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.