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Hamilton steelmaker Stelco is recalling its 175 workers that had been laid off earlier this fall.
Stelco made the announcement in a news release on Friday, saying that the workers would be back in the factory by Dec. 1. The company also indicated that it would retroactively pay the workers for the time they were laid off.
The American parent company, Cleveland-Cliffs, announced in September that it planned to lay off as many as 500 workers as it idled certain steel production at Stelco.
Ron Wells, president of the United Steelworkers Local 1005, told CBC News Network that Friday’s announcement was a “pretty good victory.”
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“They’re forced to live up to their commitments and we’re happy with that,” Wells told host Andrew Nichols.
The federal government said that any move to lay off workers would violate “binding commitments” Cleveland-Cliffs made when it bought Stelco in 2024.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly wrote to the Ohio-based company in mid-October, demanding that it reverse the layoffs or face possible legal action.
Cleveland-Cliffs originally cited U.S. tariffs, weak demand for Canadian steel and competition from imported steel products as its reasons for the planned layoffs. Stelco’s Friday statement also cited those issues, but said the company had been granted reassurances from its customers.
“Our customers have committed to support our Hamilton finishing operations despite the lack of response from the federal government to address the shortfalls in their tariff-response program and the continued flood of offshore imports of galvanized products that have eroded our domestic market,” the statement said.
WATCH | Joly on the future of Stelco:
Ottawa plans to force sale of Stelco if Cleveland-Cliffs doesn’t respond by end of day: Joly
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said on Friday that she plans to ask a court to order U.S. steel company Cleveland-Cliffs to sell Ontario-based Stelco if she doesn’t hear from them by the end of day. She said the federal government has this power because Cleveland-Cliffs is in breach of the Investment Canada Act. Joly made the comments before Stelco announced it would recall 175 laid-off workers on Dec. 1.
The government says Cleveland-Cliffs agreed to keep the number of unionized employees at 2024 levels through to 2029 in its original purchase agreement.
Just prior to Stelco’s announcement, Joly said she would be seeking a court order to force Cleveland-Cliffs to sell the Hamilton plant if she didn’t hear from the company by the end of the day.
Following the announcement, Joly told CBC’s Power & Politics that the workers being called back is a “huge win.” The minister said the government wouldn’t be pursuing legal action once the company gives the government official notice that the workers are coming back.
“I want to make sure that I see the CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs’s signature on a paper,” Joly said.
“Once that’s the case, then we will be able to move on and make sure that Stelco is well anchored.”
Wells gave credit to the workers, union and government for forcing the company’s hand.
“Our laid-off members, they deserve credit because they pressured the union, the union pressured the government and the government enforced the Canada Investment Act. So good for Canada,” the union leader said.
Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves told Power & Politics late last month that he originally bought the Hamilton plant to stop it undercutting his U.S. business.
“I bought Stelco because I could not afford anymore having Stelco flooding the market here in the United States to the detriment of my own company,” Goncalves told host David Cochrane.
Joly said Goncalves’s comments were a “shocking admission” and asked the competition bureau to investigate whether Cleveland-Cliffs had run afoul of the Competition Act.