Stelco to recall 175 laid-off workers in Hamilton, Ont., on Dec. 1

HAMILTON – Stelco’s American parent company has pledged to recall 175 temporarily laid-off steelworkers and repay their lost wages after weeks of federal pressure, including threats of legal action and the prospect of an investigation into anticompetitive conduct.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. said Friday it had secured enough customer commitments to restart finishing operations at Stelco’s Hamilton plant, with all affected employees to be recalled on Dec. 1.

Union leader Ron Wells said workers would be relieved to return to their jobs, but the layoffs should never have happened in the first place.

“We didn’t need to get to this point,” said Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, which represents workers at Stelco’s Hamilton Works.

He said the recall would ease uncertainty for workers heading into the holiday season, although some might not receive their next regular paycheque until mid-December.

“It’s still going to be a strain on them,” Wells said.

The company said the decision to restart the finishing operations is due to increased customer demand.

“I would like to thank our valued customers for the faith they have placed in us, and our workers for the patience and resilience they have continued to demonstrate during this challenging period,” Stelco president Paul Simon said in a statement.

Cleveland-Cliffs raised the ire of Ottawa when it announced the layoffs in September. 

The steelmaker cited U.S. tariffs, weak demand for Canadian steel and competition from imported steel products as reasons for the cuts.

But Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said the layoffs violated commitments Cleveland-Cliffs made when Ottawa approved its takeover of Stelco.

The minister ratcheted up pressure on Cleveland-Cliffs over several weeks, demanding answers about alleged breaches of its commitments and threatening legal action before asking the Competition Bureau last week to examine the company’s conduct.

Wells said pressure from Ottawa, not just improved customer demand, likely prompted the company to restart operations.

“The government used their levers and they put pressure on Cliffs to live up to their agreements,” he said. “That’s why they’re calling them back.”

Cleveland-Cliffs said it has now reached agreements with a sufficient volume of its customers to restart the operations and recall all of the laid-off workers.

The steelmaker said restarting operations would take several weeks but workers would receive back pay equivalent to their standard wages during the layoff period.

The layoffs came roughly two years after Cleveland-Cliffs acquired Stelco in 2024 in a transaction that required government approval under the Investment Canada Act. 

Joly put Cleveland-Cliffs on notice last month to address alleged violations of its commitments under that process, including employment guarantees, or face potential legal action. 

The federal government was also consulting its lawyers about remarks by Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves suggesting he bought Stelco to protect his company’s U.S. operations from Canadian competition.

The minister had warned that Ottawa could seek a court order forcing Cleveland-Cliffs to sell Stelco if it failed to meet its binding commitments.

Cleveland-Cliffs has denied violating its commitments under the Investment Canada Act.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2026.