U.S. Steel plant remains shuttered

The union representing locked out workers at U.S. Steel’s Lake Erie operation rallied at the plant’s front gates Saturday, but their rally fell on deaf ears.

The union submitted a new proposal to the steel maker on Friday, but the company refuses to negotiate. Almost 1,000 workers at the Nanticoke plant have been locked out for four weeks.

The president of the Steelworkers local 8782, Bill Ferguson, says the federal government needs to protect Canadian manufacturing, or the “made in Canada” ideal will be a thing of the past.

“In our latest proposal to the company, we asked for guaranteed production rates. The union is going to have to take the role and the responsibility of trying to find a way to keep production in Canada,” said Ferguson.

The steelworkers’ union says it’s contacted the federal government, but that they will not get involved in the dispute.

This is the second time in three-years that workers have been locked out at the Nanticoke mill. U.S. Steel bought the former Stelco operations in 2007, and has had multiple labour disruptions, including a year-long lockout at its Hamilton plant.