Employees at the Hamilton steel plant run by Stelco Holdings Inc. will be laid off as the company plans to idle its finishing operations in the city.
Stelco said in a statement to Global News on Monday it was concentrating steel production at its Lake Erie Works plant in Haldimand, Ont.
The company said job opportunities at the Haldimand plant will be offered to laid off Hamilton workers.
“We expect that a significant number of employees affected by the infinite idle at Hamilton should be absorbed at Lake Erie Works,” the company said in a statement.
United Steelworkers Local 1005, which represents workers at the plant, told Global News it was told by the company that U.S. tariffs on steel, plus the lack of steel imports from other countries were behind the layoffs.
The union said the company informed it that about 500 production staff will be laid off. Union local president Ron Wells believes job losses will be closer to 350.
Wells said in an interview the company told the union that operations in the cold-mill and coated departments would be affected.
“It’s extremely devastating,” Wells said.
U.S. President Donald Trump levied tariffs on steel products from Canada of up to 50 per cent under its Section 232 duties about a year-and-a-half ago, with other products like aluminum and autos also facing tariffs.
Wells said that Stelco was citing the price for coated products was “very low” due to the ongoing tariffs.
“So they’re telling us they can’t make money in the current conditions,” he said.
Total tonnage of steel produced won’t be affected, according to Stelco, but there would be a change in product mix “with a higher concentration of hot rolled steel products.”
The counter-tariffs Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has put in place, as well as the quotas on steel from foreign countries, aren’t “strong enough,” Wells said.
U.S.-based Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. acquired Stelco in 2024.
The office of federal Industry Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement the government would use “every lever possible” to defend Canadian industry, protect jobs and secure the supply chain.
For some time, our government has made clear to the company that we are ready and willing to provide financial support to sustain operations and protect jobs,” the statement said. “Its decision to reject these practical proposals and continue with layoffs is extremely disappointing.”
Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli also expressed concern for workers at the Hamilton plant.
“This is certainly a significant blow to the hardworking men and women who showed up there this morning for work to find that news,” Fedeli said.
Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MP Ned Kuruc called the news “devastating.”
“Layoffs of 350 Hamilton steelworkers has been announced and will have a serious impact on workers, their families, and our entire community,” Kuruc wrote on X. “Hamilton is being hit hard by this ongoing trade dispute.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also criticized the decision and called on Carney to take further action.
“The Prime Minister needs to turn his rhetoric into reality and deliver for steelworkers who cannot fill their gas tanks with signing ceremonies or pay their mortgages in speeches,” he wrote on X.
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