{"id":16063,"date":"2026-11-13T17:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T17:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=16063"},"modified":"2026-11-13T17:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T17:40:07","slug":"the-fight-over-canadian-steelworker-jobs-international-trade-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=16063","title":{"rendered":"The fight over Canadian steelworker jobs | International Trade News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hamilton, Ontario, Canada<\/strong> \u2013 Chelsey Masteij had heard layoffs might be coming at Stelco, so she decided to use up some of her vacation days. She was making the most of the time off with her new dog when she got a call telling her not to come back to work.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old had spent years trying to break into the male-dominated steel industry before finally landing a job at the company\u2019s Hamilton plant about three years ago.<\/p>\n

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She started as a general labourer in the cold-rolling department, later training to operate cranes and taking on shifts in the coke ovens.<\/p>\n

The work was gruelling and physically demanding, but Masteij grew to love the routine and the close-knit community of coworkers she came to consider family. When she shared photos of herself with Al Jazeera, all in protective gear at the plant, she joked that she hardly had any pictures outside of work.<\/p>\n

Masteij thought she might stay at Stelco until retirement. Instead, she was laid off on October 9.<\/p>\n

The news hit hard, and she spent much of the next two weeks sleeping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a complete mess,\u201d she told Al Jazeera, her voice cracking as she recalled the experience. \u201cI was kind of depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, instead of working 12-hour shifts, Masteij spends much of her time at home, cutting back on expenses while she collects employment insurance.<\/p>\n

Masteij is among hundreds of Canadian steelworkers facing layoffs after Stelco\u2019s American owner, Cleveland-Cliffs, announced in late September that it would temporarily shut down parts of its operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario.<\/p>\n

Stelco blames the move on United States President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs, which it says have made it harder to sell Canadian steel to US customers, and on competition from cheaper foreign steel entering Canada.<\/p>\n

But government officials and plant workers, including Masteij, are not convinced that is the whole story.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, there are a lot of lies going on with what\u2019s happened,\u201d Masteij said.<\/p>\n

While US tariffs have hurt the Canadian steel industry, the union representing Stelco workers questions whether Cleveland-Cliffs is using difficult market conditions to serve its own business interests, with Canadian workers paying the price.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows we\u2019re being used as pawns, that these layoffs weren\u2019t necessary,\u201d said Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, speaking to Al Jazeera at his Hamilton office.<\/p>\n

The pressures facing Stelco<\/h2>\n

In June 2025, Trump doubled tariffs<\/a> on steel and aluminium imports, including from Canada, to 50 percent, making them more expensive for US buyers.<\/p>\n

According to Stelco, Canada\u2019s exports of cold-rolled and coated steel to the US \u2013 used to make everything from cars to building materials \u2013 fell by 58 percent in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the quarterly average before the trade war.<\/p>\n

But demand has also fallen in Canada, where the auto industry, a major buyer of the cold-rolled steel produced at the Hamilton plant, has also been hit hard by Trump\u2019s tariffs, said Colin Mang, an assistant professor of economics at McMaster University in Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they say that there is less demand for the product coming out of the Hamilton mill, that is correct,\u201d Mang told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

But it is not just Trump\u2019s tariffs that Cleveland-Cliffs blames for Stelco\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

During a July earnings call, CEO Lourenco Goncalves warned that the company might scale back production in Canada unless Ottawa did more to protect its steel industry from imports.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that will have consequences for employment in Canada, but will have a positive financial impact on Stelco and on Cleveland-Cliffs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ron
Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, sits in his office in Hamilton, Ontario. The union represents hundreds of Stelco workers facing layoffs [Tamara Khandaker\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That was the first time Wells had heard jobs might be at risk. The union later offered to help Cleveland-Cliffs lobby Ottawa for stronger protections against foreign steel imports, believing Canadian workers might have more sway with the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey never took us up on our offer,\u201d Wells said.<\/p>\n

Instead, the next call brought news of the layoffs.<\/p>\n

As of Saturday, 175 workers at Stelco\u2019s Hamilton plant had received layoff notices, with the announced cuts expected to affect up to 500 workers there and in Nanticoke.<\/p>\n

Late last month, about 30 attended an information session the union organised in Hamilton, where they could learn about employment insurance and retraining opportunities.<\/p>\n

Many were frustrated by the lack of clarity about how long the shutdown would last.<\/p>\n

Some asked how their benefits would compare to their wages, while others wondered whether they would qualify for the full amount.<\/p>\n

For workers who had spent decades at Stelco, another daunting prospect loomed: having to look for work for the first time in the digital era, competing for jobs with younger applicants as they neared retirement.<\/p>\n

\"A
A drone photograph shows the Stelco Hamilton Works steel mill, owned by Cleveland-Cliffs, in Hamilton, Ontario, September 29, 2026 [Carlos Osorio\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some are already considering heading out west to find work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for them to make those decisions,\u201d Wells said, describing what he had been hearing from members. \u201cDo I leave my family, go out west, make some money? Because they don\u2019t know how long this is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Masteij worries about what that could mean for Hamilton, a city where generations of families have worked in steelmaking, an industry that has shaped its identity for more than a century.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a steel city girl, and I can\u2019t imagine the city without steel manufacturing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are losing tradesmen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Were the layoffs necessary?<\/h2>\n

But as workers grapple with what the layoffs mean for their families and their city, the union has been asking another question: whether these layoffs needed to happen at all \u2013 and it is not alone.<\/p>\n

The US company has come under fire from the Canadian government, which is threatening legal action, accusing it of breaking promises it made when it bought Stelco in 2024.<\/p>\n

Those included keeping at least the same number of unionised jobs and most non-unionised jobs in Canada, and pushing for trade policies that would benefit the steel industries in both Canada and the US.<\/p>\n

Cleveland-Cliffs denies violating the agreement, saying it expects to meet its employment commitments for the year. It also maintains the layoffs are needed to \u201censure the survival of Stelco\u201d amid US tariffs, weaker demand and competition from cheaper foreign steel.<\/p>\n

But the union and the government point to Stelco\u2019s recent financial performance. Earlier this month, Goncalves reported the company\u2019s strongest quarter since the acquisition.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Goncalves is not a victim,\u201d Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly told Canada\u2019s public broadcaster CBC, pointing to the company\u2019s earnings. \u201cHe\u2019s never made so much money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts have also challenged Goncalves\u2019s claim that Canadian steelmakers are struggling because of \u201can avalanche of imports\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mang points out that nearly 80 percent of Canada\u2019s cold-rolled steel imports come from the US, as does about half of the galvanised and painted steel coming into the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he\u2019s trying to sell people on is the idea that there\u2019s all this European or Asian steel coming into Canada,\u201d he said. \u201cThis stuff is coming from his own country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union and the government have also asked why, as Goncalves pushes for stronger protections in Canada against foreign steel, he has also been a vocal supporter of Trump\u2019s tariffs on Canadian steel.<\/p>\n

In testimony to US lawmakers in January, Goncalves argued that no country, including Canada, should be exempted from the steel tariffs. In an interview with Politico last year, he said he was \u201cvery happy\u201d with the 50 percent tariffs on steel imports, adding, \u201cI have my fingerprints on that 50 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two countries, one company<\/span><\/p>\n

For Wells, the irony is that Goncalves helped create the same conditions Cleveland-Cliffs now blames for the layoffs. He believes the company is using Canadian workers to pressure Ottawa to impose more restrictions on foreign steel, while also helping Trump argue that his tariffs are working.<\/p>\n

Mang explained why Goncalves\u2019 seemingly contradictory position might make sense for Cleveland-Cliffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants trade barriers in both countries to seal off their domestic markets from each other and also from the rest of the world,\u201d Mang said, \u201cso that his companies in each country can benefit in their own domestic markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleveland-Cliffs has been under growing pressure from Ottawa, which gave the company 15 days from October 22 to honour its commitments to Canadian workers or face legal action.<\/p>\n

Amid that pressure, comments Goncalves made to CBC late last month appeared to support the union\u2019s suspicions that the layoffs have less to do with tough market conditions and more to do with Cleveland-Cliffs\u2019 broader business interests.<\/p>\n

Asked why he supported tariffs on Canadian steel despite promises to protect workers and advocate for the Canadian steel industry when Cleveland-Cliffs bought Stelco, he said: \u201cI bought Stelco because I could not afford anymore having Stelco flooding the market here in the United States to the detriment of my own company.\u201d<\/p>\n

The admission caught the attention of Joly, who said the comments could strengthen the government\u2019s case against Cleveland-Cliffs if Goncalves meant that he had bought Stelco to keep its Canadian operations idle. She added that Ottawa could force the company to sell its Canadian assets.<\/p>\n

On November 6, as Ottawa\u2019s 15-day deadline expired, Joly asked Canada\u2019s Competition Bureau to investigate the 2024 acquisition and whether the company\u2019s conduct violated Canadian competition law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf negotiations and acquisition were conducted in bad faith, Canadians deserve to know. The company needs to face the consequences,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Cleveland-Cliffs maintains that it has complied with its obligations under the Investment Canada Act.<\/p>\n

Goncalves has rejected the prospect of a forced sale but suggested he might sell Stelco himself in a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will sell the company after we operate the company for a while, and now that I know that I\u2019m persona non grata in Canada, I will do that,\u201d he told CBC.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Canadian Press news agency late last month, he said he hoped to bring laid-off workers back before Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will depend on Canadian customers buying Canadian steel, made by Stelco,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera contacted Cleveland-Cliffs for comment on the union\u2019s allegations and Goncalves\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\"Chelsey
Chelsey Masteij at work at Stelco\u2019s Hamilton steel plant in Ontario, Canada [Courtesy of Chelsey Masteij]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What comes next for workers?<\/h2>\n

For Masteij, even as she waits to hear whether she will be recalled, she is preparing for the possibility that her time at Stelco is done. Her low seniority means she would be one of the last to be called back.<\/p>\n

Masteij plans to use the time she is eligible for employment insurance to take a heavy equipment training programme, hoping it will open the door to other opportunities and give her something to focus on. The training could also help her if she returns to Stelco, which is still what she is hoping for.<\/p>\n

For Wells, what is especially frustrating is how the company is treating workers, given the years of hard work and sacrifices many have made in their jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not glamorous. You work shifts, nights, days, in the hot and the cold,\u201d he said. \u201cOur members miss Christmas meals with their families or their kids\u2019 hockey games because they\u2019re expected to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why this is particularly tough because that loyalty isn\u2019t being repaid,\u201d Wells added. \u201cIt\u2019s actually being exploited, if anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

He worries about what a drawn-out legal battle could mean for those workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members don\u2019t have a lot of time,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping things get settled as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Hamilton, Ontario, Canada \u2013 Chelsey Masteij had heard layoffs might be coming at Stelco, so she decided to use up some of her vacation days. She was making the most of the time off with her new dog when she got a call telling her not to come back to work. The 34-year-old had spent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t