Stelco says it has secured enough customer orders to restart its idled steel-finishing operations in Hamilton, Ont., and will recall all 175 laid-off workers, with retroactive pay for wages lost during the shutdown.
Stelco announced on Sept. 28 that it would indefinitely idle finishing operations at its Hamilton Works facility, citing “market uncertainty” and weak demand for steel products.
“We are pleased to announce that we have reached agreement with a sufficient volume of our customers to restart our Hamilton finishing operations and recall all 175 workers on December 1,” Stelco said in a press release on Nov. 13.
The company said it had remained in “constant communication” with customers following the September announcement, securing commitments to support its Hamilton steel operations.
Stelco also blamed the shutdown on what it described as an inadequate federal tariff response and a continued influx of imported galvanized steel products, which it said had eroded the domestic market.
In an earlier letter to Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, Stelco President Paul Simon said Canadian exports of cold-rolled and coated steel to the United States fell by 58 percent in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the 2024 quarterly average. He also said imports accounted for 45 percent of Canadian market share for those products, despite Ottawa’s efforts to restrict foreign steel imports.
Stelco said restarting the Hamilton operations would take several weeks, but it would recall the workers effective Dec. 1 as a “measure of good faith.” The company also pledged to retroactively compensate them for wages lost during the temporary layoffs.
“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,” said Stelco President Paul Simon in the release.
Joly had warned Cleveland-Cliffs, Stelco’s U.S.-based parent company, in October that Ottawa could seek financial penalties or a forced sale of its Canadian assets if it failed to honour employment commitments made when it acquired Stelco in 2024.
The commitments included maintaining employment levels and advocating for tariff-free access for Canadian steel in the U.S. market. Joly has maintained that the company breached its legally binding undertakings under the Investment Canada Act, while Cleveland-Cliffs has denied violating the commitments.
Speaking to reporters earlier on Nov. 13, before Stelco announced the restart, Joly said she was prepared to seek a court order requiring Cleveland-Cliffs to sell its Hamilton operations if the company did not respond by the end of the day.
“So I said, if they don’t come back to me before the end of the day, that I would be doing that,” she said.
