‘Nowadays, you need a lot fewer people’: Laid-off Stelco workers not alone as steel jobs disappear
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jobs → need → people
Number of jobs in Canada's primary steel manufacturing industry have roughly halved since 2003
Stelco Holdings laid off 85 employees at the end of last week, according to union leader Ron Wells.
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Holdings → manufacture → Wells
The week before, he says the company issued 90 layoff notices.
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company → say → notices
While the U.S.-owned steelmaker insists its plan to lay off up to 500 workers in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ont., is only a temporary consequence of the Canada-U.S. trade war, new technologies and demand dynamics are working in concert with tariff-related headwinds to compress the industry’s once-robust workforce.
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technologies → insist → workforce
According to Statistics Canada, direct employment in Canada's primary steel manufacturing industry has slipped from nearly 29,000 workers in 2003 to about 14,000 workers as of July.
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employment → accord → July
Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, and a 47-year veteran of Stelco, says the workforce at Stelco alone was about 14,000 strong when he started working for the company.
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he → say → company
"To make a ton of steel nowadays, you need a lot fewer people," Wells told CBC News.
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Wells → make → News
"Now, it’s a lot more streamlined."
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it → ’ → ?
According to U.S. regulatory filings, the total workforce of Cleveland-Cliffs — the Ohio-based owner of Stelco and North America’s largest producer of flat-rolled steel — shrank from about 30,000 employees to roughly 25,000 between Dec. 31, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2025.
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workforce → accord → Dec.
This year of job cuts included about 600 layoffs in Dearborn, Mich., as Cleveland-Cliffs idled a massive blast furnace.
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Cliffs → include → furnace
CEO Lourenco Goncalves blamed soft demand from North American automakers.
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Goncalves → blame → automakers
The move prompted another 600 cuts in Minnesota to align the company’s raw ore output with reduced blast furnace demand.
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move → prompt → demand
An aerial image of Stelco's facility in Nanticoke, Ont. (Patrick Morrell/CBC)
In late September, three months after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order applying up to 50 per cent tariffs on certain steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Stelco announced up to 500 layoffs at its two Ontario operations.
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Stelco → sign → operations
That provoked the current clash between the company and the federal government over Stelco’s obligations under the Investment Canada Act to maintain a certain number of workers in Canada.
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That → provoke → Canada
But Stelco’s workforce isn’t the only cohort of Ontario steel workers facing job uncertainty.
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workforce → face → uncertainty
Last December, Algoma Steel issued layoff notices to about 1,000 workers, nearly a third of its workforce.
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Steel → issue → workforce
While the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based company blamed U.S. tariffs for crushing its export competitiveness, the announcement coincided with plans to fast-track its transition to greener and less labour-intensive electric-arc furnace production.
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announcement → ont.-base → production
That came after ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada announced the permanent shutdown of its Parkdale wire-drawing facility in Hamilton in June 2025.
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Canada → come → June
"Despite our best efforts, the ongoing economic challenges, increased steel imports in Canada and market conditions made it clear that we needed to reduce our operating footprint," company spokesperson Jean-Philippe Grou told CBC News at the time.
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Grou → increase → time
Calls to address cheaper foreign steel imports
In a letter to Industry Minister Mélanie Joly obtained by The Canadian Press, Stelco president Paul Simon complained that imports of cold-rolled and coated steel accounted for 45 per cent of market share for those products.
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imports → address → products
Wells says Ottawa is not doing enough to shield Canadian producers from cheaper foreign imports.
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Ottawa → say → imports
He wants tariff-rate quotas increased to impede the flow of foreign steel competing with Canadian supply.
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quotas → want → supply
"There’s too much capacity coming from offshore," he said.
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he → ’ → ?
"It dilutes the price in Canada."
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It → dilute → Canada
A new forecast from research firm Wood Mackenzie shows the contrast between the steel industry in the U.S. versus Canada.
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forecast → show → Canada
It predicts U.S. steel production will rise about 4.5 per cent this year, even as demand in America shrinks.
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demand → predict → America
Senior research analyst Tiago Vespoli sees a different reality in store for Canada.
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Vespoli → see → Canada
"The increase in U.S. steel tariffs to 50 per cent has significantly disrupted … established trade flows, creating a situation in which U.S. steelmakers can increase production and market share, while Canadian producers face growing pressure on export volumes and capacity utilisation," he wrote on Thursday.
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he → disrupt → Thursday
Wells says he’s encouraged by a recent uptick in spot prices for galvanized steel — a product Stelco is pivoting away from in Hamilton.
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Stelco → say → Hamilton
That’s why we find these layoffs and the idling of the cold mill and coated [steel] quite puzzling.
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layoffs → ’ → mill
It seemed like [prices for] coated products were starting to rebound.
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prices → seem → products
That’s why we believe this layoff is partially to get Carney to act and get a trade agreement," he said.
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he → ’ → agreement
"We think it’s to get Trump to look good in the midterms, that his tariffs are working, Canadian steel workers are getting laid off."
Goncalves has openly supported Trump’s tariff agenda, a fact that has prompted blunt criticism from Joly and Prime Minister Mark Carney.
With a courtroom clash between Cliffs and Ottawa looking increasingly likely, Wells says he continues to hold onto hope that Stelco will recall the workers being laid off.
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Stelco → think → workers
"It's hard to take them at their word anymore, to be honest with you," he said.
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he → take → you
"I strongly believe these layoffs are temporary.
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layoffs → believe → ?
I think this trade situation will get sorted out soon and our members will get back to work."
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members → think → work
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