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Around 50 employees of U.S. Steel Canada in Hamilton will be laid off as of Monday as the steel maker idles it coke ovens.
The layoffs are temporary – – but at this time there is no set return date for the laid-off workers.
CHCH has also learned more layoffs could be coming as operations at the plant wind down.
The union representing the steelworkers says the future is hard for them to gauge in the midst of U.S. Steel’s recent bankruptcy filing.
On Monday U.S. Steel President and General Manager Michael McQuade sent an email to employees that stated “Due to the surplus capacity of coke, the company has determined that it is necessary to temporarily idle the coke battery at Hamilton works.”
U.S Steel is under restructuring monitored by the courts under the Creditors Arrangement Act and the company has indicated in court documents that it plans to sell it’s Hamilton and Nanticoke plants in a year’s time.
Rolf Gerstenberger, the President of United Steel Workers Local 1005 says the move is “Just more of the same.”
He says the company is dismantling the Canadian operation piece by piece.
There are 572 union employees at the plant in Hamilton.
The company is protected from its creditors until January 23, 2015.
They also has access to $185 million dollars in financing from their American parent company which gives them total control over the company’s restructuring.
