Stelco to recall 175 Hamilton workers Dec. 1 with back pay

Stelco will recall all 175 workers laid off from its Hamilton finishing operations on Dec. 1 and pay them retroactively for the wages they would have earned during the layoff, the company’s U.S. parent said Friday.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. said it has reached agreements with enough customers to restart the finishing lines at Hamilton Works, which were temporarily idled on Sept. 28. Restarting the operations will take several weeks, the company said, but the workforce is being recalled on Dec. 1 as a measure of good faith.

For Hamilton households, the practical effect is a return date and back pay in hand before the holidays. United Steelworkers Local 1005 president Ron Wells said workers would be relieved, though some might not receive their next regular paycheque until mid-December.

“We didn’t need to get to this point,” Wells said. He credited federal pressure, not only customer demand, for the reversal. “The government used their levers and they put pressure on Cliffs to live up to their agreements,” he said.

Stelco president Paul Simon thanked customers and workers in a statement, saying the decision followed increased customer demand. In its release, the company also said the federal government had not addressed shortfalls in its tariff response program, and pointed to a continued flood of offshore imports of galvanized products.

The recall caps weeks of escalating pressure from Ottawa. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said the layoffs violated commitments made when the federal government approved Cleveland-Cliffs’ 2024 takeover of Stelco under the Investment Canada Act. As we reported, Joly warned of a possible forced sale in mid-October, then rejected the company’s compliance report on Oct. 29 and demanded a recall. Last week she asked the Competition Bureau to examine the company’s conduct.

The company had earlier blamed U.S. tariffs, weak demand for Canadian steel and competition from imports for the cuts, a position it set out when it blamed Ottawa after its best quarter. Cleveland-Cliffs has denied violating its commitments under the Investment Canada Act.

The Canadian Press and Cleveland-Cliffs’ release, distributed through Business Wire on Nov. 13, are the sources for the recall details. It was not immediately clear whether the Competition Bureau review would continue.

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