Steelmaker Stelco will recall 175 laid-off workers at its Hamilton plant on December 1 and provide retroactive back pay following a weeks-long standoff, Al Jazeera reported.
The announcement arrived on Friday after Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly threatened to seek a court order forcing parent company Cleveland-Cliffs to sell the steelmaker. The company blamed weak demand and U.S. tariffs for the original job cuts.
“This fight was absolutely worth it,” Ms. Joly said at a news conference.
Cleveland-Cliffs reverses job cuts
Cleveland-Cliffs acquired Stelco in 2024. In late September, the Ohio-based company announced layoffs affecting up to 500 workers across plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, as reported by The Globe and Mail.
The parent company pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a deluge of cheap foreign steel imports as drivers of the downturn. Ottawa countered that the layoffs breached binding acquisition commitments to maintain unionized staffing levels through 2029.
“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,” Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, told The Globe and Mail.
Investigation and pressure from Ottawa
On November 6, Ms. Joly requested a formal Competition Bureau investigation into the Cleveland-Cliffs acquisition after CEO Lourenco Goncalves publicly suggested the purchase was made to squash competition, according to YIEH.
The federal government warned of legal penalties or a forced divestiture. On Friday, Ms. Joly appeared alongside Mr. Wells and United Steelworkers Local 8782 president John McElroy, as reported by CPAC.
Stelco stated on Friday that sufficient customer demand now allows it to restart finishing operations. Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to requests for comment from Al Jazeera.
Hamilton steel plant questions
Why were the workers originally laid off?
Cleveland-Cliffs cited weak market demand, U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel, and cheap foreign steel imports when it cut jobs in September.
When do the workers return to the factory?
Workers are scheduled to return to the Hamilton facility on December 1 with back pay for standard wages missed during the layoff period.
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