Open this photo in gallery:
Stelco’s steel production facility in Hamilton. U.S. parent Cleveland-Cliffs laid off 175 workers at the plant in September.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press
Stelco Inc. is recalling 175 laid-off Ontario steel workers effective Dec 1., ending a faceoff that started in early fall between Ottawa and the company’s U.S. parent, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. CLF-N
Hamilton-based Stelco announced in a statement on Friday that owing to sufficient demand from customers for its steel, it is in a position to bring back all of the laid-off workers.
“Our customers have committed to support our Hamilton finishing operations,” the company said in the statement.
The restart of its Hamilton galvanized steel operations will take several weeks and all impacted employees will be compensated retroactively for any pay missed while off the job, the company said.
Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005 in an interview said the recall of the workers is a relief.
“We are happy the government held them accountable, enforced the Investment Canada Act, got our members back in a relatively short period of time, and made them whole,” he said.
Hamilton Stelco workers to get $1,100 profit-sharing cheques, as Cliffs asserts business isn’t profitable
On Sept. 28, Stelco announced it was laying off up to 500 workers at two plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ont. and in the process ignited a political firestorm.
Cliffs said Stelco’s galvanized-steel business was losing money, and it blamed both U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and a deluge of cheap imports into Canada. But almost immediately, Ottawa alleged that the Ohio-based steel maker had violated a series of legally binding commitments made as a condition for being allowed to acquire Stelco in 2024. Most notably, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly pointed to Stelco’s commitment to maintain employment levels of about 2,400 workers for a period of five years after it acquired the Canadian steel maker in 2024.
While Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves maintained the company was onside with its Investment Canada Act (ICA) commitments, Ms. Joly repeatedly pushed back. In multiple letters and in scores of media appearances, she warned Mr. Goncalves that Cliffs risked being sued, facing financial penalties or being forced to divest Stelco if it didn’t recall the laid-off workers. The notion of nationalizing Stelco was even floated by some.
“This fight was absolutely worth it,” Ms. Joly said in a news conference in Hamilton on Friday evening.
“We’re also sending a message this is a country of the rule of the law and that applies to everyone.”
Decoder: An ‘avalanche’ of foreign steel dumping in Canada? Stelco owner’s gripes don’t hold up to scrutiny
With Stelco bringing back the steel workers, Ottawa avoids the need to launch a legal suit against Cliffs, something that would have been fraught with uncertainty, and likely have taken years to play out.
There had been signs of a détente emerging between Ottawa and Cliffs in recent weeks, with Mr. Goncalves saying he was planning on recalling the laid-off workers by Christmas if market demand was high enough.
But a week ago, Ms. Joly turned up the heat on Cliffs once again, asking the Competition Bureau to investigate whether Mr. Goncalves’s statement in a media interview that he bought Stelco to prevent it from dumping steel into the U.S. warranted enforcement action.
Mr. Goncalves has pressed Ottawa to reach a “Fortress North America” trade deal with President Donald Trump’s administration that would see the U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel imports dropped. But Mr. Goncalves has also repeatedly thanked Mr. Trump for bringing in the same tariffs, saying they are helping to reduce a deluge of cheap imports from abroad. After acquiring Stelco, Mr. Gonsalves said he put an end to Stelco selling steel into the U.S., which made it easier for Cliffs to compete in its home market.
While Canada last year brought in stringent measures to reduce imports of foreign steel, including a 50-per-cent tariff on imports above a certain level, Mr. Goncalves has argued the crackdown hasn’t gone far enough in galvanized steel.
Stelco in its Friday statement criticized the government for not doing enough to reduce what it characterizes as a “continued flood” of cheap foreign steel into the market.