Industry Minister Mélanie Joly is accusing Stelco of violating commitments to maintain employment levels after the company announced it plans to lay off up to 500 workers in Hamilton.
In a letter sent to Stelco’s president Monday, Joly expressed “extreme disappointment” with the plan to indefinitely idle some operations at its Hamilton Works facility and said the move would “be inconsistent” with commitments U.S. parent company Cleveland-Cliffs made to the federal government when Ottawa approved the takeover of Stelco in 2024.
Joly said that at the time of the takeover, the company promised it would continue to employ at least the same number of unionized employees and the vast majority of non-unionized employees as when the deal was announced.
“Undertakings given under the Act are binding commitments and do not cease to apply simply because business strategy or market conditions have changed,” Joly wrote in the letter, which was shared with CTV News.
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She said Stelco still has a “binding commitment” to the undertakings it made at the time of the deal and added she is giving the company five business days to provide her office with its plans for complying with those commitments. If not, she said the federal government could take the company to court.
The company has previously said it expects a significant number of employees affected by the layoffs will be offered jobs at Lake Erie Works, where it is consolidating its operations.
“Total tonnage of steel produced will not be affected, albeit we will see a change in product mix, with a higher concentration of hot-rolled steel products,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement provided to BNN Bloomberg last week.
“Very importantly, job opportunities at Lake Erie Works will be offered to Hamilton employees. We expect that a significant number of employees affected by the indefinite idle at Hamilton should be absorbed at Lake Erie Works.”
Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath welcomed Joly’s letter Tuesday.
“I’m glad that that Minister Joly has said that whether it’s by negotiation or whether it’s by enforcement, they are they are engaging this company and trying to get them to live up to their obligation,” she told CP24.
She added “It was a five-year agreement, so it’s not even halfway through yet, and here we are with the threat of layoffs literally in a couple of days.”
With files from CTVNewsToronto.ca journalist Phil Tsekouras
