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Cleveland-Cliffs to recall workers at Ontario steel plant
Decision resolves conflict with Canadian government
(Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg)
Key Takeaways:
- Cleveland-Cliffs will recall 175 laid-off Stelco workers in Hamilton, Ontario, on Dec. 1 and retroactively compensate them for standard wages.
- The recall resolves a dispute after Canada accused Cleveland-Cliffs of breaching job commitments tied to its 2024 Stelco acquisition.
- Cleveland-Cliffs said customers committed to resume purchases, though restarting production will take several weeks.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will recall 175 temporarily laid-off workers at its Stelco unit in Canada after getting commitments from customers to resume buying its products.
The workers will return Dec. 1, the company said in a statement Nov. 13. The company said it will also compensate them retroactively for the standard wages they would have earned during the layoff period.
Cliffs idled its Hamilton, Ontario, finishing operations in September, citing weak market conditions and U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel. It said at the time that the move would affect as many as 500 employees, though up to this point only 175 were.
The decision to bring those workers back resolves a conflict between Cleveland-Cliffs and the Canadian government, which accused the company of failing to follow through on commitments it made to preserve jobs when it acquired Stelco in 2024.
In October, Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly gave the company 15 days to address the alleged breaches or face potential legal action, including financial penalties or a forced sale of Stelco.
Cliffs said Nov. 13 that its customers had agreed to support a restart, despite what it described as the federal government’s failure to address shortcomings in its tariff response program and the continued influx of imported galvanized steel in Canada. Restarting production will take several weeks, the company said.
