Stelco Holdings Inc. will indefinitely idle finishing operations at its Hamilton Works plant starting October 9, laying off up to 500 workers as punishing U.S. steel tariffs and a flood of foreign imports squeeze the Canadian steel industry.
Stelco Holdings Inc. said on Monday that it plans to idle part of its Hamilton plant in order to ensure the survival
of the company, as U.S. tariffs squeeze its sales. In a memo to staff obtained by The Globe and Mail, Paul Simon, president and general counsel at Stelco, said around Oct 9 it will shut down its cold-rolled and coated operations at Hamilton Works. This is an unfortunate but necessary action to ensure survival of Stelco in what has become a challenging and unsustainable steel market for these the products,
wrote in the memo. U.S.-based Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. acquired Stelco in 2024.
Union Conflict and Job Impact at Hamilton Works
While company memos point to a maximum impact of 500 positions across Hamilton and Lake Erie Works, union representatives on the ground put the immediate layoffs lower. The company said this will not impact its ability to supply hot-rolled steel products. The union said the company informed it that about 500 production staff will be laid off, though Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, estimates 350 steelworkers will be laid off. He says he was briefed on the situation in a meeting with the company on Monday morning.
Obviously, we got to meet with the company, and find out who's getting laid off, [and] make sure it's done by seniority,
Wells told CBC News on Monday. Wells noted that workers arrived at the plant to face devastating news with the holidays approaching. Christmas ain't that far away, and we have no idea the duration of these layoffs … People are concerned. I don't blame them.
It’s tough news. It’s devastating,
he said. I mean Christmas really isn’t that far away.
Stelco announced its intention on Monday to indefinitely idle its cold-rolled and coated operations at Hamilton Works starting on or around Oct. 9.
U.S. Tariffs and Foreign Import Pressures
The manufacturing cutbacks trace directly back to aggressive trade barriers south of the border. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in June applying an up to 50 per cent tariff to certain steel and aluminum imports from Canada. 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. Stelco’s market for cold-rolled and galvanized products has contracted significantly, while import penetration for these products remains at heightened levels,
Fafard said. “This is an unfortunate but necessary action to help ensure the survival of Stelco in what has become a challenging and unsustainable market for cold-rolled and coated products caused by the ongoing and sustained trade disruptions impacting the Canadian steel industry,” Stelco vice-president of sales Frederic Fafard stated in the memo. In a letter to Stelco employees, the steelmaker says the imposition of 232 tariffs by the United States has caused a major decline in the company’s market for cold-rolled and galvanized goods. By the second quarter of this year, it says the demand of these products in the markets traditionally serviced by Stelco declined by nearly 25 per cent over the quarter average in 2024. The steelmaker says this also includes a 10 per cent decline in market demand in Canada as Stelco’s customers and manufacturers of steel products are also being challenged by the trade crisis.
Consolidating Production at Lake Erie Works
Despite idling the finishing lines in Hamilton, the company insists that overall output will remain steady. 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.
Pat Persico, senior director, corporate communications, with the company’s U.S. parent, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. CLF-N, told The Globe and Mail wrote in an e-mail on Monday afternoon that Stelco plans to concentrate its steel production at Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ont., which is south of Hamilton. She said that total tonnage of steel produced will not be affected, but there wil Pat Persico, a spokesperson for parent company Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., says Stelco’s product mix will change but that the tonnage of steel production will not be affected. The company says the indefinite idle is part of a plan to concentrate production at its Lake Erie facility in Nanticoke, Ont. It says a “significant” number of affected Hamilton employees will be offered jobs at the Lake Erie facility. However, that exact number is still unknown.
Political Repercussions and Economic Fallout
The company says the impacted employees will be notified by human resources as operations are wound-down in the coming weeks. We are working closely with the leadership of our union locals to ensure we meet our obligations to our employees under our collective agreements,
Stelco tells CHCH News in a statement. “We will continue to closely monitor developments in trade measures and their impact on domestic market conditions. We will continue t The company says the indefinite idle is part of a plan to concentrate production at its Lake Erie facility in Nanticoke, Ont.”