By Jack Copple
On September 28, Stelco announced the indefinite layoff of 350 employees at its Hamilton Works plant starting in October, and a further 50-plus workers at its Lake Erie works plant.
These announcements defy the 2024 purchasing agreement requiring Stelco’s new parent company Cleveland-Cliffs to maintain the number of unionized workers until at least 2029, while also maintaining a certain level of operations. Despite these legally binding conditions of sale, Cleveland-Cliffs insists it will move ahead with the layoffs.
The corporation’s CEO Lourenco Goncalves has stated publicly that the only thing that would prevent the Stelco layoffs would be for Canada to reach a deal to restore “free trade” with the United States. But Goncalves provided significant financial support for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and had previously praised US tariffs against Canada, strongly suggesting that the layoffs are really pressure tactics to force a trade deal which further cedes Canadian sovereignty to the US.
Stelco workers recognize these connections and are calling the layoffs a “manufactured crisis” by Goncalves. USW Local 1005 president Ron Wells said the CEO is using Stelco workers as pawns in the broader trade war to advance Trump’s annexationist agenda. Local 1005 and USW Local 8782 plan to fight the layoffs and are promising rallies and other actions in the near term.
Notably, many of the interviews with Local 1005 and 8782 leaders about the Stelco announcement have from the picket lines at National Steel Car, where 1,200 members of USW Local 7135 have been on strike for nearly two months. It’s a strong reflection of the deep solidarity among USW workers in Hamilton, and their commitment to fighting the corporate monopolies that are manufacturing these crises.
In addition to breaching the 2024 sale conditions, the Stelco layoffs come after tens of millions in government handouts to the company over the years, to subsidize its profits. This outrageous situation has occurred in other industries including the auto sector, which has seen thousands laid off in Ontario despite receiving federal and provincial subsidies and incentives.
The Carney government insists it will use every legal avenue it has to enforce the terms from the 2024 sale agreement with Cleveland-Cliffs. But history suggests that these actions will, at best, merely temporarily delay the layoffs temporarily and be followed by even more public subsidies to the corporation.
Clearly, working people do not benefit from more talks, more subsidies, or better corporate trade deals. The era of our politicians begging at boardroom tables must end. Instead, the steel industry needs to be put under public ownership with full democratic control so that the people, not a board of directors in another country, control the profits and direct the industry to meet the needs of people across Canada. This action, not public subsidies to corporate monopolies, will prevent the total devastation of the steel industry in Canada.
The auto sector should also be nationalized and produce an affordable electric Canadian passenger vehicle using Canadian steel. Through public ownership, the industry can also rapidly expand manufacturing capacity for municipal and inter-urban public transit such as buses and light rail, facilitating a genuine just, green transition.
In addition, the federal government needs to enact plant closure legislation requiring corporations to justify any closure or mass layoff before a public tribunal with the power to prohibit the closure and impose severe penalties, including jail time for executives and full repayment of every dollar of public subsidy received.
Employment Insurance needs to be expanded, so that all unemployed workers receive benefits at 90 percent of previous earnings for the full duration of unemployment. This will help protect all workers from the crises caused by capitalism.
Finally, Canada needs to withdraw from corporate trade deals like the USMCA, and from military alliances like NATO and NORAD. Instead of “free trade” deals that sacrifice our jobs and sovereignty, Canada should pursue multilateral, mutually beneficial trade with the world. Getting out of aggressive military alliances, and adopting an independent foreign policy of peace and disarmament, would allow billions of dollars in military spending to be redirected to social needs such as health, housing and education.
Solidarity with USW 1005 and 8782, fighting the layoffs to protect jobs and domestic production!
Jack Copple is Ontario organizer for the Communist Party of Canada
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