Canadian steelmaker Stelco will recall 175 laid-off workers at its Hamilton plant on December 1 and provide them with retroactive pay, ending a weeks-long confrontation involving its United States-based owner, Al Jazeera reported.
The announcement on Friday came shortly after Canada’s Industry Minister Melanie Joly stated she would seek a court order to force Cleveland-Cliffs to sell Stelco unless company management responded by the end of the day.
Stelco stated on Friday that it had secured agreements with enough customers to restart finishing operations. Workers returning on December 1 will receive back pay for standard wages missed during the layoffs.
Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, welcomed the decision and credited pressure from workers, the union, and the government. At a news conference alongside Joly, Wells called the layoffs illegal and immoral.
Joly said that the outcome demonstrated Canada operates under the rule of law. “This fight was absolutely worth it,” she told Al Jazeera.
Cleveland-Cliffs acquired Stelco in 2024. In late September, the company announced up to 500 layoffs across Stelco plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, citing weak demand for cold-rolled and coated steel products used in automobiles and appliances.
The US owner blamed US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel for driving up costs and pointed to competition from cheaper foreign steel imports. Ottawa countered that the layoffs breached binding commitments made during the 2024 acquisition, which required maintaining the count of Canadian unionized employees through 2029.
Critics also pointed to public statements by Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves supporting Trump’s tariffs, despite blaming those same tariffs for Stelco’s financial difficulties.
In its Friday statement, Cleveland-Cliffs maintained that customers committed to supporting Hamilton operations “despite the lack of response from the federal government to address the shortfalls in their tariff response program.” The company did not disclose customer agreement details or specifics on what made operations viable again. Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to a request for comment.
