Stelco's U.S. Owner Calls Q3 Its 'Strongest' Since the Acquisition — as Layoff Notices Keep Going Out in Ontario
Cleveland-Cliffs says Stelco's third quarter this year was the steelmaker's 'strongest' since the U.S. company acquired it in 2024. At the same time, hundreds of workers at Stelco's Ontario operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke are set to lose their jobs, with layoff notices rolling out since earlier this month and continuing.
Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, told CBC that 333 layoffs were expected in Hamilton. Stelco said on Sept. 28 that it planned to idle part of the Hamilton plant to 'ensure the survival' of the company, as U.S. tariffs squeezed its sales.
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A 'strongest quarter' describes what the buyer gets out of Stelco, not what Hamilton gets out of it. The two statements sit easily together: record returns for the parent, hundreds of jobs ending on the ground.
That may be harsher than it needs to be. The Hamilton idling was announced as a way to 'ensure the survival' of the company under tariff pressure — a defensive move. A good quarter for the parent and a defensive shutdown are not mutually exclusive.
Defensive or not, someone still pays. Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, told CBC his members feel 'underappreciated' — people who work weekends and holidays and miss their kids' hockey games, whose loyalty, he says, isn't being repaid.