The federal government has given Stelco’s U.S. owner, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., five days to respond to a letter from Industry Minister Mélanie Joly over planned layoffs at the company’s Hamilton, Ont., steelworks, CTV News and Steel Market Update reported Oct. 6.
Joly has accused the company of violating commitments to maintain employment levels, CTV reported. Steel Market Update reported that Ottawa has threatened legal action if the company does not comply. The two outlets did not detail the specific legal basis for any proceeding.
The ultimatum follows a Sept. 28 announcement that Stelco would indefinitely idle its finishing operations in Hamilton. Layoffs affecting up to 500 workers across Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ont., were announced, with the wind-down set to begin Oct. 9, HR Reporter and HCAmag reported.
United Steelworkers Local 1005 president Ron Wells has estimated that 350 union members in Hamilton will lose work. Stelco said only about 40 of those 350 workers received job offers at its Nanticoke facility, CP24 reported Oct. 1.
Stelco has attributed the layoffs to “weaker demand and continued pressure from steel imports,” CP24 reported. The company has said its overall steel tonnage will not decline.
Cleveland-Cliffs chief executive Lourenco Goncalves said the loss of U.S. market access because of trade disputes makes the Hamilton operations unsustainable, HCAmag reported. He said he would not have bought Stelco “if I knew that Canada and the United States would become what they became.” HCAmag reported he rejected Ottawa’s offers of bridge financing and loans.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Sept. 30 that workers had been “betrayed by the company,” which he said had “made representations and has legal obligations for employment,” according to HCAmag. Carney said Ottawa intends to “use all powers that we have and pursue them to the fullest extent of the law,” CP24 reported. Joly said “everything is on the table” in enforcing the company’s commitments under the Investment Canada Act.
Cleveland-Cliffs acquired Stelco in 2024. HCAmag reported the deal was approved under Investment Canada Act conditions that included five-year employment commitments, requiring the company to maintain its unionized and non-unionized workforce at the levels that existed when the deal was announced in July 2024.
Wells and John McElroy, president of USW Local 8782, said in a joint statement that Cleveland-Cliffs “have violated the Investment Canada Act and have betrayed the Canadian people.” The union leaders called the company’s tariff-related explanation “disingenuous and contradictory,” noting that Goncalves has publicly said his “fingerprints” are on the 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel, CP24 reported.
Hamilton’s mayor reacted angrily to the initial layoff news, saying “I’m furious,” according to a CP24 headline on Sept. 29.
The story is developing. Reports differ on the number of affected workers: some cite 350 at Hamilton, others up to 500 across the two sites. Neither Cleveland-Cliffs nor Stelco had publicly responded to the five-day ultimatum in the reports reviewed. Canada News Media has not independently confirmed the contents of Joly’s letter.
Via CTV News, Steel Market Update, CP24, HCAmag and HR Reporter.
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